Bo Göran Hägglund (born 27 January 1959,
DegerforsDegerfors is a locality and the seat of Degerfors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 7,418 inhabitants in 2005.-Overview:Degerfors has traditionally been an industrial community closely connected to the large ironworks...
,
Värmland' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Its Latin name is Wermelandia; its English derivative is Wermland or similar variation. The origin of the name is...
) is a
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
politician and the current leader of the
Christian Democrats of SwedenThe Christian Democrats is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on their own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf Svensson, who had been...
. He was elected Party Leader on 3 April 2004, succeeding
Alf SvenssonAlf Robert Olof Svensson is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament from 2009. Alf was the leader of the Christian Democrats in Sweden between 1973 and April 3 2004. He was a Member of Parliament from 1985 to 1988 and has been again since 1991...
. Since 6 October 2006 he is also the Minister for Health and Social Affairs in Sweden.
Hägglund was born in
DegerforsDegerfors Municipality is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Degerfors....
in central Sweden, but moved to
JönköpingJönköping Municipality is a municipality in Jönköping County, southern Sweden. The city Jönköping is the municipal seat. The municipality is situated by the southern end of lake Vättern.-Historical background:...
, a Christian Democratic stronghold, with his family in 1978.
He started his political career in the Christian Democratic youth organisation.
Bo Göran Hägglund (born 27 January 1959,
DegerforsDegerfors is a locality and the seat of Degerfors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 7,418 inhabitants in 2005.-Overview:Degerfors has traditionally been an industrial community closely connected to the large ironworks...
,
Värmland' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Its Latin name is Wermelandia; its English derivative is Wermland or similar variation. The origin of the name is...
) is a
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
politician and the current leader of the
Christian Democrats of SwedenThe Christian Democrats is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on their own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf Svensson, who had been...
. He was elected Party Leader on 3 April 2004, succeeding
Alf SvenssonAlf Robert Olof Svensson is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament from 2009. Alf was the leader of the Christian Democrats in Sweden between 1973 and April 3 2004. He was a Member of Parliament from 1985 to 1988 and has been again since 1991...
. Since 6 October 2006 he is also the Minister for Health and Social Affairs in Sweden.
Hägglund was born in
DegerforsDegerfors Municipality is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Degerfors....
in central Sweden, but moved to
JönköpingJönköping Municipality is a municipality in Jönköping County, southern Sweden. The city Jönköping is the municipal seat. The municipality is situated by the southern end of lake Vättern.-Historical background:...
, a Christian Democratic stronghold, with his family in 1978.
Political career
He started his political career in the Christian Democratic youth organisation. From 1978 he was employed by the party, first as ombudsman for the local Christian Democratic Youth, and from 1981 for the regional party branch. From 1982 to 1986 he was also a member of the Municipal Council in Jönköping.
Following the 1985 elections, he started to work as parliamentary secretary for the Christian Democrats. In 1988 he temporarily left politics to start working for an insurance company. In the parliamentary elections of 1991 he was elected a Member of Parliament.
Hägglund was generally considered to be long-time party leader
Alf SvenssonAlf Robert Olof Svensson is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament from 2009. Alf was the leader of the Christian Democrats in Sweden between 1973 and April 3 2004. He was a Member of Parliament from 1985 to 1988 and has been again since 1991...
's personal favourite as a successor. However, when Svensson announced his plans to step down, two other candidates,
Maria LarssonMaria Larsson is Swedish politician and a member of the Christian Democratic Party . She is a trained schoolteacher, and is married with three children. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1998 representing Jönköping County, and vice party leader of the Christian Democrat Party since 2003...
and
Mats OdellMats Christer Johannes Odell is a Swedish politician and former minister of communications .Since October 2006 he is Minister for Financial Markets....
, had the support of a bigger number of regional party organisations. Not even Hägglund's own Jönköping district stood behind him. Eventually, however, all Hägglund's possible contenders withdrew from the race, and his election as party leader on 3 April 2004 was unanimous.
Prior to the
Swedish general election in 2006A general election was held in Sweden on September 17, 2006, to elect members to the Swedish parliament. All 349 seats were up for election: 310 "fixed seats" in 29 constituencies and 39 members at a national level for what are called "adjustment seats", used to ensure that parties have...
Hägglund's Christian Democrats formed a closer alliance with the three other
centre-rightThe centre-right , also known as right of center, is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances...
parties in Sweden, under the name
Alliance for SwedenAlliance for Sweden is a political alliance in Sweden. It consists of the four centre-right parties in the Riksdag. Although it was formed while in opposition, it achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006, forming the current coalition government.- Members of the Alliance...
. After their victory in the elections,
Fredrik ReinfeldtJohn Fredrik Reinfeldt is the current Prime Minister of Sweden, leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party and the current President of the European Council....
of the
Moderate PartyThe Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
was asked by the
Speaker of the RiksdagThe Speaker of the Parliament of Sweden is the speaker of the national parliament in Sweden. The Riksdag underwent changes in 1867, when the old Riksdag of the Estates institution was abolished. The new form of the Riksdag included two chambers, each with its own Speaker...
to form a new government. Following negotiations between the leaders of the parties in the Alliance for Sweden, Göran Hägglund was named Minister for Health and Social Affairs on 6 October 2006.
Personal life
Hägglund grew up in the Pentecostal movement, but is now a member of the
Church of SwedenThe Church of Sweden is the largest church in Sweden. The Church of Sweden professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With almost 6.9 million members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world. Until 2000 it held the position of state church. As of...
. He is married and has two children.
External links
Christian Democrats: Göran Hägglund