Giuseppe Conte

Giuseppe Conte was born 8 August 1964 and spent most of his career teaching private law, joining the Italian Bureau of Administrative Justice in 2013. After the 2018 election deadlock, he emerged as the compromise candidate to lead a coalition between the Five Star Movement and the League - his first political role of any kind. Sworn in as prime minister on 1 June by President Sergio Mattarella, he appointed the M5S and League leaders as joint deputies. When the League pulled support in August 2019, Conte brokered a new government with M5S and the Democratic Party, becoming the first Italian prime minister to lead coalitions of both right-wing and left-wing partners. In 2020 his government imposed the West's first national lockdown against COVID-19, a move both popular in polls and criticized as the largest suppression of constitutional rights in the Republic's history. When Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva withdrew in January 2021, Conte won confidence votes but resigned after failing to secure an absolute Senate majority; talks for a third cabinet collapsed, and Mario Draghi took over.