2 days ago
Sweden's Liberals propose Simona Mohamsson as party leader
The nomination committee for Sweden's Liberal Party has proposed 30-year-old party secretary Simona Mohamsson as the next party leader.
Advertisement
Lars Persson Skandevall, the chair of the party's nomination committee, announced Mohamsson's name at a press conference in the Swedish parliament on Thursday morning.
She is expected to be formally voted into place at an extraordinary meeting of the party's regional leaders held on June 24th.
"My goal is for the Liberals is to make it a party in contact with issues on the ground," Mohamsson said after the announcement. "For me this about teamwork."
Mohamsson has had a meteoric career within the Liberal Party, only entering national politics as recently as April, when she took over as party secretary.
Before that she has been active in youth and local politics, serving as vice chair of the party's LUF youth wing and the city councillor in charge of social services in Hisingen, a suburb of Gothenburg.
Mohamsson's appointment came as many of the favourites to take the position, chief among them Sweden's current environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari and schools minister Lotta Edholm, both said they were not interested in the role.
When making the announcement, Persson Skandevall said that Mohamsson was "tailor-made for the role of party leader".
"Simona is fearless, clear and direct and firmly rooted in the liberal movement. We are totally convinced that she is the right person," he said.
Advertisement
Mohamsson has in the past been critical of the party's decision to be part of a government coalition dependent on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, but has recently said she has changed her mind on the issue after seeing how it has worked in practice.
Mohamsson's father is an Israeli Arab born in Haifa and her mother is from a mountain village in Lebanon, close to the Israeli border.
She was born in Hamburg and then moved to Överlida in the countryside south of Gothenburg when she was seven years old. The family changed their name from Mohammed to the more Swedish-sounding Mohamsson shortly after arrival in Sweden.
