Ireland: Indian-origin gay minister Leo Varadkar wins leadership race, set to be Prime Minister

Indian-origin doctor and Ireland’s first openly gay minister, Leo Varadkar on Friday won the leadership race for the ruling party to become the country’s youngest-ever and first homosexual Prime Minister-in-waiting.

Varadkar, 38, will officially take over as Taoiseach, as the Irish prime ministerial title is known in Ireland, in Parliament later this month after he was declared the winner in the leadership race for the Fine Gael party.

After the win, Varadkar said, “If my election shows anything it’s that prejudice has no hold in this Republic. When my father travelled 5,000 miles to build a new home in Ireland, I doubt he ever dreamed his son would grow up to be its leader.”

Varadkar took a majority of the votes to be declared as the 11th leader of the party as counting concluded at Mansion House in Dublin. The final count, including all three electoral colleges, saw Varadkar win with 60 per cent to Housing Minister Simon Coveney’s 40 per cent votes. Polling had closed earlier on Friday with a 100 per cent turnout in the parliamentary party recorded.

Source: News Nation