Sweden appoints youngest ever minister aged 26 years

Europe, News October 23, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Romina Pourmokhtari has been appointed as Sweden’s minister for climate change and environmental affairs in the newly elected Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s cabinet.

The 26-year-old politician has become the youngest person ever to assume a ministerial position in Sweden.

Romina has been a critic of Kristersson in the past for his closer alliance with the Sweden Democrats (SD), a right-wing nationalist political party that secured the most public votes in recent elections. In 2020, she tweeted that “Ulf Kristersson without SD – Absolutely. Ulf Kristersson with SD – No thanks,” however, now she would share cabinet meetings with SD ministers.

Sweden went through a major administrative change through elections on September 11, 2022. The right-wing bloc clinched victory with a razor-thin margin. Sweden Democrats emerged as the second-largest party by seats overall and the largest party in the bloc by winning 73 (20.9%) of the 349 seats in the parliament. They even left exceeded the bloc leader Moderates in terms of seats.

Sweden Elections IRIA — *^{Sweden elections 2022 breakdown, according to Swedish Election Authority. (Image Credit: IRIA)}*

Based on its extremist-conservative roots, the party is characterized by many analysts as an anti-immigration and anti-Islam political party. Since taking over the party leadership in 2005, SD leader Jimmie Akesson has tried to tone down the party’s image which eventually resulted in its electoral win.

Romina Pourmokhtari’s political career

Born and raised in Stockholm, Romina has Iranian heritage. Her parents came to Sweden seeking political asylum. According to Pourmokhtari, her parents fled from Iran “when their freedom was taken from them.”

She has always expressed her disapproval of the Iranian regime, especially these days as Iran is ongoing through a spree of protests that started with the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian girl. Amini died in morality police custody in Tehran on September 16 as she was being held for “not wearing the hijab properly”.

*^{26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari becomes Sweden’s youngest minister ever. (Image Credit: Henrik Montgomery/TT)}*

Romina retweeted comments critical of the Iranian regime and posted pictures of the daughter of a protester, Minoo Majidi, standing next to her mother’s grave, who died at a demonstration.

Until now, Romina had been serving as the head of the Liberal Party’s youth wing and she is not known to have any climate or environment-related profile. Her nomination for the ministerial position was approved by the cabinet members of the newly elected right-wing coalition government led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Climate change and environmental protection have become a recent topic of attention in Sweden, especially after the young climate activist Greta Thunberg came to the limelight. The 19-year-old’s approach to protest against climate degradation by holding older politicians accountable resonates well with the appointment of a young minister for environmental affairs.