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Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Sweden elects a New Govt that includes a very young Minister !

We grew up idolising the exploits of Bjorn Borg who ruled the Tennis World in late 1970s.   Between 1974 and 1981- Björn Rune Borg, became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon… .. and Sweden dominated Tennis – it has won the Davis Cup seven times ( 1975, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1997, 1998) and made seven finals in a row from 1983 to 1989.  The one pictured is not a Tennis player though !



As I gleaned the web read that a Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ)-linked fugitive wanted by Türkiye was spotted in the Swedish capital Stockholm. After intense field work, Sabah daily found Bülent Keneş, former editor-in-chief and columnist at the now-defunct English-language daily Today's Zaman in the Akersberga area. Keneş, who fled Türkiye shortly after the July 15 failed coup attempt in 2016, had been living in Stockholm's Skarholmen area since 2020. Pictured walking on the streets, Keneş seemed frightened and roamed the streets in paranoia, always checking his back while running errands. Frequently posting provocative anti-Türkiye posts on social media, Keneş had signaled that there would be a coup in the country nine days before the deadly attempt, which left at least 250 people dead.  He faces three different cases in Türkiye for the coup attempt and is one of the several suspects wanted by Türkiye from Sweden.

The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland. The Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, religion and social structure. They have a long history of political unions and other close relations but do not form a singular entity today. The Scandinavist movement sought to unite Denmark, Norway and Sweden into one country in the 19th century. With the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden (Norwegian independence), the independence of Finland in the early 20th century and the 1944 Icelandic constitutional referendum, this movement expanded into the modern organised Nordic cooperation. Since 1962, this cooperation has been based on the Helsinki Treaty that sets the framework for the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Sweden, a Kingdom,  is a Nordic country in Northern Europe in Scandinavia. It borders Norway, Finland, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge–tunnel across the Öresund. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest Nordic country, the third-largest country in the European Union, and the fifth-largest country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.5 million .. .. about  20% of its  residents are foreign-born, many of them refugees from war-torn countries including Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.  Sweden has a nature dominated by forests and a lot of lakes, including some of the largest in Europe. Plenty of long rivers run from the Scandes range through the landscape, primarily emptying into the northern tributaries of the Baltic Sea. It has an extensive coastline and most of the population lives near a major body of water.

General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn will elect the Prime Minister of Sweden. The preliminary results presented on 15 September 2022 showed the government parties lost their majority, which were confirmed by the final results published on 17 September 2022. On 17 October 2022, Moderate Party (M) leader Ulf Kristersson was elected prime minister.

Ulf Hjalmar Ed Kristersson (born 29 December 1963) set to serve as Prime Minister of Sweden is the  leader of the Moderate Party. He has been a member of the Riksdag for Södermanland County since 2014 and previously from 1991 to 2000 for Stockholm County.  He previously served as Minister for Social Security from 2010 to 2014.  In Dec 2014,  he was appointed Shadow Finance Minister of the Moderate Party and economic policy spokesperson. After the 2022 Swedish general election, the right-wing bloc obtained a majority in the Riksdag, leading to Kristersson's election as Prime Minister.

Sweden's new government under Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson which was announced on Tuesday includes the country's youngest-ever cabinet minister. The one featured at the start is - 26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari  who has been appointed as the nation's climate minister, making her the youngest person ever to lead the ministry.

Previously the accolade was held by Aida Hadzialic who in 2014 became Sweden's  Minister for Upper Secondary School, Adult Education and Training when she was 27 years old. Hadzialic was forced to resign just two years after taking up the post after controversy ensued over her getting caught driving under influence. The newly appointed Minister for Climate and the Environment has previously served as the head of the Liberal Party's youth wing and had in 2020 proposed a meat tax to fight climate change.

Pourmokhtari who was born into an Iranian origin family in the suburbs of Stockholm, has in the past been an outspoken critic of  Kristersson's move to shift his party closer to the anti-immigration and nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD), reports AFP.  Ulf Kristersson has been confirmed prime minister after more than a month of negotiations with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who have agreed to support the coalition in parliament reports Reuters. With the nation's inflation at nearly 10 per cent, and the economy headed into a recession, the new government faces a number of challenges.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
19th Oct 2022.

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