Calabria’s 51-year-old regional leader dies, 10 months after election

Jole Santelli, a centre-right politician, who was elected president of the southern Italian region of Calabria less than a year ago, has died at the aged of 51.

The shock death was announced by the Calabria region on its website on Thursday.

Santelli was said to have passed away peacefully overnight at home in Cosenza, the statement said, without giving the cause of death.

RAI public television and other Italian media said Santelli had long been battling with cancer.

In January, Santelli won the Calabrian elections with more than 55 per cent of the vote, becoming the first female leader of the impoverished and ‘Ndrangheta mafia-ridden region.