Aboubakar Soumahoro wins Green and Left Party seat in lower house, and hopes to make his mark in opposition
Italian-Ivorian activist, trade unionist and newly elected MP Aboubakar Soumahoro in Rome, Italy, on October 5 2022. Picture: REUTERS/YARA NARDI
“Sleeping rough in the streets was traumatic, especially when I realised that this was the result of a political decision that targeted the migrants,” said Soumahoro. “One thing I will try to do is make sure that no-one ends up living in the streets like me. People need to be treated as human beings regardless of what passport they have,” he said before Thursday’s opening of parliament.
“I do not want to represent just one part of society. I want to make sure that everyone, both the dispossessed and those who struggle to make ends meet, can recognise themselves in what we do,” he said. Both Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which took most votes last month, and Matteo Salvini’s League party, have vowed to block boat migrants from North Africa and adopted an “Italians First” policy.
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