Parisa Liljestrand

Parisa Mollagholi Liljestrand (born 15 March 1983) is a Swedish politician for the Moderate Party. She is the Minister of Culture and Sami Affairs in the Ulf Kristersson cabinet since 18 October 2022.[1][2]

Parisa Liljestrand in October 2022

Biography

When Parisa was four, the family fled Iran after the fall of the Shah and during the Iran-Iraq War. Parisa's father was a pilot in the Iranian defense and was able to steal a helicopter and fly his family out of the country in the dark over the mountains. After six months at the refugee center in Surahammar, the family finally ended up in Vallentuna.[3]

Parisa Liljestrand studied to be a teacher at Uppsala University between 2001 and 2007. She was principal in Vaxholm until 2018.[4]

In 2002, she founded the direct democratic party DemoEx, which was represented in the municipal council in Vallentuna between 2002 and 2010. In 2010, she got involved in the Moderate Party instead. After the 2018 election, she became chairwoman of the municipal board in Vallentuna municipality.[5] She has also chaired the municipality's Business and Labor Market committee, Planning and Environment committee and the Children's and Youth committee.[6]

In an article in Svenska Dagbladet in 2016, she said that she "takes every opportunity" to celebrate both Swedish and Iranian holidays. She is for the protection of "the libertarian, the democratic values and independence, not least".[7]

Controversy

Although Liljestrand was appointed Minister of Sami Affairs, in 2023 she refused to meet with the Swedish Sami National Association (Svenska Samernas Riksförbund, SSR), one of the largest Indigenous Sami organisations in Sweden. Leading Sami expressed disappointment, saying it had a negative impact on the Sami community.[8]

References
  1. "Sweden's new Government". Government of Sweden. 18 October 2022. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  2. Sweden, Radio (18 October 2022). Ulf Kristersson names ministers in his three-party government. Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  3. Brandel, Tobias (18 January 2016). "Flyktingen från Iran som blev kommunalråd". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  4. Nyheter, S. V. T. (18 October 2022). "Parisa Liljestrand (M) blir ny kulturminister". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  5. "Kommunstyrelsen". www.vallentuna.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  6. "Parisa Liljestrand - Förtroendevalda i Vallentuna kommun". 6 February 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  7. Josefsson/TT, Elin Swedenmark/TT, Ann Edliden/TT, Erika (18 October 2022). ""Oprövat kort" blir ny kulturminister". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 27 August 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Szumski, Charles (4 September 2023). "Swedish Sami minister refuses to meet with the indigenous group this year". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 10 September 2023.


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