Nyamko Sabuni

Nyamko Ana Sabuni (born 31 March 1969) is a Swedish politician who was Leader of the Liberals between June 2019 and April 2022. She previously served as Minister for Integration from 2006 to 2010 and as Minister for Gender Equality from 2006 to 2013 in the Swedish government. A member of the Liberal Party, Sabuni was elected a Member of Parliament in 2002. Sabuni made history in June 2019 by becoming the first party leader in the Swedish parliament coming from an ethnic minority and the first party leader of a refugee background. In April 2022, Sabuni resigned as party leader.

Personal life

Nyamko Sabuni was born in Bujumbura in Burundi, where her father, a left-wing politician from Zaire, lived in exile. Sabuni's father is a Christian, while her mother is a Muslim. The family obtained political asylum in Sweden in 1981 and Sabuni grew up in Kungsängen, north of Stockholm. She studied law at Uppsala University, migration policy at Mälardalen University College in Eskilstuna, and information and media communications at Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm.

She was married from 2004 to 2012 and has twin sons from that marriage. She has described herself as non-religious.

Political career

Sabuni was a member of board of the Liberal Youth of Sweden from 1996 to 1998. She has cited the murder of Ivorian refugee Gerard Gbeyo, committed by a Swedish neo-Nazi in the town of Klippan in 1995, as one of the reasons she became involved in politics.

Shortly after she was elected into office, she made a publicized decision to withdraw funding for the organization Centrum mot rasism, where her uncle Mkyabela Sabuni was a director.