Walloon member of the Social Party, who was born in Morlanwelz. Elio Di Rupo is the son of Italian immigrants. His father died when he was one year old, and his mother had to take care of the seven children. For financial reasons, three of the children had to placed in an orphanage, located at a kilometre's distance of where the family lived in Morlanwelz.

He graduated as a chemist at the Université de Mons-Hainaut (UMH) and a PhD from the same University. He started his professional career at the Université de Mons-Hainaut.

Elio Di Rupo is a flamboyant, openly gay, left-winger. In 1996, he was wrongly accused of having had sex with minors by a young gay, Olivier Trusgnach. These allegations nearly put an end to his political career, but a judicial investigation totally cleared his name.

Di Rupo was prime-minister for the Walloon Government from 1999-2000 and is now mayor of Mons/ Bergen.