Ireland looks set to see its first openly gay prime minister after the governing Fine Gael party elected Leo Varadkar as its new leader on Friday.
Varadkar, the 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant, was selected by the party to succeed Enda Kenny as PM, after the latterโs resignation last month.
Varadkar overcame ministerial colleague Simon Coveney as expected, winning an overwhelming majority among the centre-right partyโs lawmakers who hope the straight-talking Dubliner can lead them to third successive term for the first time.
Bar an unexpected development, Varadkar will be voted in as prime minister when parliament next sits on 13 June.
Who is Leo Varadkar?
Reuters reported Varadkar will become the once-staunchly Catholic countryโs first openly gay premier and the youngest person ever to hold the office.
โIf my election today shows anything, it is that prejudice has no hold in this Republic,โ Varadkar said to huge applause in a speech at Dublinโs Mansion House, where Irelandโs parliament first sat almost a century ago.
โI know when my father travelled 5,000 miles to build a new home in Ireland, I doubt that he ever dreamed that one day his son would grow up to be its leader and despite his differences, his son would be judged by his actions not his identity.
โEvery proud parent in Ireland today can dream big dreams for their children,โ Varadkar said.
His election marks another chapter in the social change that has swept through the country of 4.6 million people that only decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 but became the first country to adopt gay marriage via a popular vote in 2015.
It also shows another face of modern-day Ireland. Varadkarโs father Ashok, who like his son is a doctor, was born in Mumbai in India. He met his wife Miriam, an Irish nurse, in England in the 1970s before moving to Ireland where Varadkar was born.
The generational shift from Kenny, 66, who led the party for 15 years and has been prime minister since 2011, will likely be matched with Varadkarโs cabinet choices. Paschal Donohoe, 42, is expected to be promoted to finance minister, replacing the retiring Michael Noonan.
Varadkarโs opponents, who hope his blunt style will prove a liability rather than an asset to Fine Gael, were quick to claim that the current social protection minister โ who recently led a campaign against โwelfare cheatsโ โ would move the government to the right.
โLeo Varadkar is a Tory. Fine Gael will be dragged even further to right under his leadership and that can only mean further hardship for ordinary people,โ Gerry Adams, president of the left-wing Sinn Fein opposition party said in a statement.