Michele Zefarelli (born 1950) was Prime Minister of Italy from 2019 to 2021. A member of Lega Nord, Zefarelli presided over a coalition government with the support of Forza Italia and the Democratic Party.
Biography[]
Michele Zefarelli was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy in 1950, and he worked as a lawyer for several years. He was an Italian Socialist Party member for decades, as he supported the needs of the working-class people of northern Italy, but he joined Lega Nord upon its foundation in 1989, as he came to support right-wing populism as an alternative to socialism. Zefarelli became an important Lega politican, and, during the 2010s, he became the Lega Nord leader.
Premiership[]
In 2019, Lega Nord became one of the two largest parties in the Chamber of Deputies, and the Lega Nord, Democratic Party, and Forza Italia deputies selected Zefarelli as the new Prime Minister of Italy. One of his government's first actions was to approve Giacomo Zerilli's bill to create public housing in a bipartisan bill. However, during his second government, his economic reforms led to a breakdown in bipartisan relations, and he soon found himself facing opposition from both the left and dissidents within his own party. In 2021, he was ousted from power when the Five Star Movement candidate Nicola Urbini was elected to power.