During a press conference in Rome, outgoing democratic Party secretary, Enrico Letta, hands Elly Schlein, the first woman leader of Italy's centre left, a pomegranate as a symbol of "a symbol of prosperity, luck and of course health." Parliamentarian Elly Schlein, 37, defeated frontrunner Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia-Romagna region, by 53.8 percent to 46.2 percent Sunday, in an election that saw most left-leaning voters stay at home. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES