Italy's fractured left taps young feminist to lift campaign

MODENA, Italy (AP) — As far-right leader Giorgia Meloni ’s push to become Italy’s first female premier gathers momentum, the country's fractured left is offering voters a contrasting style of feminist politics.

Elly Schlein, a 37-year-old U.S.-Italian national who grew up in Switzerland, cut her political organizing chops on two campaigns for former U.S. President Barack Obama. She is often compared with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because of her platform advocating social justice.

Schlein, a former deputy in the European Parliament, gained national attention in Italy 2½ years ago when she played a key role in blocking the right from taking power in her traditionally left-leaning region of Emilia-Romagna.

She famously confronted right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini at the time for his repeated failure to vote on immigration policy while sitting in the European Parliament, even though he gave fiery speeches at home against migrants.

Schlein is now taking on Meloni, bringing a thoughtful, policy-packed voice to the Italian left’s national campaign in a bid to prevent what opinion polls suggest is an inevitable victory for a right-wing coalition.

The 45-year-old Meloni's Brothers of Italy Party consistently has led polls going into the Sept. 25 parliamentary vote, putting her in position to be tapped as premier.

“Not all female leadership helps women,’’ Schlein told an audience of several hundred at a weekend campaign rally at the Festa dell’Unita in Modena.

“It helps nothing to have a female premier if all the rights for other women are overturned, including control over their own bodies,” she said, referring to growing concerns that Meloni would move to limit abortion.

As vice president of Emilia Romagna in charge of equality and environmental programs since...