Italy’s Democratic Party leans left under new leader Zingaretti
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Supporters of Italy’s fractured centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday (3 March) elected Nicola Zingaretti as new leader, an ex-communist son of a bank manager who will now take on the ruling populist coalition led by the far-right Lega.

The PD was left reeling and languishing in the polls after the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the anti-immigrant Lega won elections and formed a government in June of last year.

Zingaretti, who has been compared to Britain’s Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn and Senator Bernie Sanders in the US, tweeted his thanks after most of the primary votes were counted saying it was “now time to turn the page”.

Around 7,000 polling stations, including 150 abroad, had been staffed by 35,000 volunteers throughout the day, with over 1.5 million turning out.

The other candidates were Roberto Giachetti, 57, considered the closest to former PD leader and prime minister Matteo Renzi’s centrist politics, and Maurizio Martina, 40, a former agriculture minister.

Zingaretti, 53, is currently the president of the Lazio region, which includes Rome, and is a former Italian Communist party member as well as a founding member of the PD in 2007.