Leoluca Orlando

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Leoluca Orlando (born august 1, 1947), is an Italian politician, who was mayor of Palermo from 1985 to 2000. He is also best known for his strong opposition to the Sicilian mafia.

Biography

Orlando was born in Palermo. He studied in Germany and England, he graduated in jurisprudence and worked as lawyer and professor in the University of Palermo.

In 1978-1980 he was advisor to the President of Sicily Region Piersanti Mattarella, and, as a member of Christian Democracy (DC). In 1985 he was elected mayor of Palermo, and receveid numerous menaces for his explicit struggle against the power of the mafia in the city. Confirmed as mayor in 1993 with the 75.2& of the votes, in 1992 he was also elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Two years later he became a member of the European Parliament.

After the dissolution of DC, he founded a popular movement called La Rete ("The Net"), which later, in 1999, joined with Romano Prodi's Democrats. In 2001 he was amongst the founders of The Daisy, the Italian party currently including most of the former left-winged members of DC.

In the december 2000 he resigned from the position of mayor and was candidated as presidence of the autonomous region of Sicily. He was however beat by current president Salvatore Cuffaro. In 2006 he was expelled from the Daisy and joined Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values.

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