Elly Schlein, 37, defied poll projections and beat Stefano Bonaccini in the Democratic Party (PD) leadership race on Sunday. Italy's most prominent left-wing party has elected its first female leader.

“The Democratic Party is alive and ready to rise up,” Schlein said. "We did it, together we made a great little revolution, although this time they didn't see us coming."

Schlein said the party, which has struggled to form a strong opposition to Italy's right-wing parties, "will be a problem" for the government led by Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots.

Schlein, a former MEP, first rose to prominence in early 2020 after her small party, Coraggiosa (Courageous), played a pivotal role in preventing the far-right from taking power in the traditionally left-wing Emilia-Romagna region. .

Bonaccini won the region's presidency, and Schlein was named vice-president, a post she resigned after being elected as a parliamentarian in Italy's general election in September.

Vocal on issues of social justice, Schlein, an Italian-American national, has been compared in Italy to New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He rejoined the Democratic Party after leaving in 2015 out of frustration at the direction the party was taking under its then-leader and former prime minister, Matteo Renzi.

In an interview with The Guardian in September, he said he "couldn't take" the PD any longer after Renzi enforced his flagship jobs law, which contained labor market measures that made it easier for employers to fire people and hire with precarious contracts.

Among Schlein's political priorities in the leadership race were the minimum wage, health care, and the environment.