Markus Wiechel (born 15 April 1988) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

. He has been a

Member of Parliament (MP) A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...

of Sweden following the resignation of Lars Isovaara on 29 November 2012. He's currently serving as

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

for the Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as Deputy for the Committee on European Union Affairs. Wiechel is currently part of three international parliamentary delegations: NATO-PA as a deputy member, the OSCE-PA and the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

(PACE). Wiechel is the Chairman of the Swedish PACE-delegation and holds the seat as Vice President of the Assembly.

Biography

Markus Wiechel graduated from

Hickman High School David Henry Hickman High School (commonly Hickman or HHS) is a public secondary school in Columbia, Missouri, United States, serving students in grades 9– 12. Built in 1927, it is the oldest of four high schools in the Columbia Public Schools ...

(Columbia, Missouri) in 2007 and moved to his native Sweden to study Social Services at the

University of Linköping A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

but later graduated in Political Science. He is the son of Swedish author and ophthalmology expert Kristina Narfström who is a professor at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

and the cousin of

Swedish Social Democrats Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician

Björn Wiechel Björn Göran Sebastian Wiechel (born 1983) is a Swedish politician and member of the Riksdag, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he has represented Västerbotten County since September 2014. Wiechel is the son o ...

Political life

Wiechel joined the

shortly after moving back to Sweden. Wiechel was elected chairman of the Sweden Democrats in the city of

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linköp ...

as well as the regional board in

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

in 2009. He left the local board in 2012 and the regional board in 2015, but was a member of the national board from 2011-2019. In the elections of 2010 Wiechel was elected as a Member of Norrköping City Council where he worked as a Political Secretary and City Council Group Leader for the local Parliamentary group until 2013. He stayed as a member of the municipal Assembly in Norrköping until 2018 when he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Wiechel returned to local politics in 2023 when he entered as a deputy member of

Nacka Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mil ...

Municipal Assembly. Following the resignation of Lars Isovaara on 29 November 2012, Wiechel assumed office as a regular member of parliament. In the Riksdag, Wiechel has been civil and housing policy spokesperson 2013–2014, migration and citizenship policy spokesperson 2014–2017 and foreign policy spokesperson 2016–2021. He has been a member of the Civil Affairs Committee (2013-2014), the Social Security Committee (2014-2016) and the Foreign Affairs Committee (since 2016). Aside from this he has served in several international delegations and holds, among other things, the position of chairman of the Swedish delegation to the

since 2022. He was elected as a deputy in the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs 2018–2022 and since 2022 is a member of the

War Delegation The War Delegation ( sv, krigsdelegationen, or ''KD'') is a standing committee of the Riksdag, with its functions enumerated in the Instrument of Government and the Riksdag Act, with the purpose of replacing the Riksdag as a whole whenever Sweden i ...

. After the successful results for the Sweden Democrats in the election of 2022, Wiechel became the first ever Sweden Democrat Chairman of the Swedish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He was also elected as Vice President of the whole Parliamentary Assembly in January 2023. On 17 July 2021 Wiechel was awarded the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia presented by the Armenian ambassador to Sweden Alexander Arzoumanian. Wiechel was awarded the medal for his work on diplomatic relations between Armenia and Sweden.

International delegations

Markus Wiechel has been a member of a couple of international delegations within the Swedish Parliament. In 2013-2014, he was a member of the Swedish delegation to the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...

. In 2016, he took part as a member of the Swedish delegation to the

(PACE), first as a deputy (2016-2018) and since 2018 as an ordinary member. Since 2022, he is the Chairman of the Swedish PACE-delegation, first ever as a politician of the Sweden Democrats and in January 2023 he was elected Vice President of the whole Assembly. Aside from this, Wiechel is a deputy member of the Swedish delegation to NATO-PA and an ordinary member to the Swedish delegation to the OSCE-PA.

Distinctions

Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, (Armenia).

References

External pages

Markus Wiechel Parliament of Sweden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiechel, Markus 1988 births Living people People from Linköping Municipality Members of the Andra kammaren Swedish male bloggers Linköping University alumni Hickman High School alumni Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 Members of the Riksdag 2022–2026 Members of the Riksdag from the Sweden Democrats 21st-century Swedish politicians