Immigrant Indian is Ireland PM |
Ireland`s governing Fine Gael party elected Leo Varadkar as its new leader on June 2, 2017, choosing the gay, 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant to succeed Enda Kenny as prime minister in a striking sign of the country`s rapid social change. Varadkar overcame ministerial colleague Simon Coveney as expected, winning an overwhelming majority among the centre-right party`s lawmakers. Bar an unexpected development, Varadkar will be voted in as prime minister when Parliament next sits on June 13 and become the once-staunchly Catholic country`s first openly gay premier and the youngest person ever to hold the office. He is the Dublin-born son of an Indian immigrant father and Irish mother, and will be the first openly gay cabinet minister in Ireland after coming out in 2015. He campaigned on same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws, although like the majority of his party colleagues, he is an advocate of tight fiscal restraint. Varadkar may seem an unlikely frontrunner in socially conservative Ireland. But in many ways, he represents a generational shift to a more secular society, particularly in Dublin and other urban areas. He was a doctor before winning a seat in parliament in 2007 and has rapidly risen through the ranks, holding several ministerial portfolios.
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