Varadkar faces housing minister Simon Coveney to succeed Enda Kenny.
An Indian-origin doctor Leo Varadkar (38), the Dublin-born son of a Mumbai-born father and Irish mother, is likely to become the country's first gay prime minister, as the result is expected to be declared on Friday.
Varadkar faces housing minister Simon Coveney to succeed Enda Kenny as leader of the governing Fine Gael and prime minister.
He had announced his candidacy after Kenny announced his resignation, a title referred to as Taoiseach in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Loe's cousin Shubhada Varadkar told a Times of India that they hail from a family of freedom fighters that spread its wings across Mumbai and Ireland in the 1960s.
She also said that his parents visit Mumbai and the ancestral village of Varad.
If Varadkar is elected, a move that would give the once-staunchly Catholic country its first openly gay leader and its first of Asian immigrant descent.
Here's all you need to know about him
- Varadkar was born and raised in Dublin to mother, Miriam, a nurse originally from Waterford in Ireland and father, Ashok, a doctor from Mumbai, India.
- At 38, he would become the youngest person to hold the office.
- According to CNN, he was 22 when he entered Irish politics and at the age of 27 he was elected to parliament.
- Varadkar worked as a general practitioner (GP) before winning a seat in the Parliament in 2007 and has rapidly risen through the party ranks,
- He came out as a gay in 2015 when Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote. "It is not something that defines me. I am not a half- Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It is just part of who I am, it does not define me, it is the part of my character I suppose," he had in a radio interview.
- The popular minister has campaigned on same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws.
- He held several ministerial portfolios including minister for social protection and minister for transport, tourism and sports.
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