Leo Varadkar Elected as Irish Prime Minister

Leo Varadkar has been elected as the new Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, after he being elected as the leader of the Fine Gael Party – Ireland’s ruling party.

Varadkar won the leadership position by 57 votes to 50 with 45 abstentions on Wednesday, 14 June.

Upon election, he announced that he has made his leadership rival, Simon Coveney, the deputy leader of the party.

Addressing the Irish parliament following his election, Varadkar promised to lead with a vision to serve and unite the country.

“I’ve been elected to lead but I promise to serve…the government that I lead will not be one of left or right because those old divisions don’t comprehend the political challenges of today. The government I lead will be one of the new European centre as we seek to build a republic of opportunity, [sic],” he said.

Varadkar will now have to lead Ireland in the Brexit negations due to start next week.

While he did not address Ireland’s Brexit strategy in his speech to parliament yesterday, he has previously said that Ireland should not be too tough with London and Theresa May, even though they did not agree with the decision to leave the European Union.

“We regret that decision but we do respect it and a ‘hard Brexit’, whether it’s a hard Brexit driven from London or forced on London, is one in which Ireland could be a big loser,” he previously said.

Varadkar is Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister, and at 38 years old, also the youngest prime minister in Ireland’s history.

Born in Dublin, he is the son of an Irish mother and an Indian father.

Varadkar started his career in politics when he was 24 and first took a seat in parliament in 2007. In 2011, he was appointed as the minister of sport, tourism and transport of the Fine Gael Party and more recently had a hand in overseeing Ireland’s welfare system.