Ricardo Lumengo is a
Swiss politician
Switzerland is a semi-direct democracy, semi-direct democracy, democratic federal republic. The federal legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly: the National Council (Switzerland ...
, former member of the Swiss Federal Parliament and of the Social Democratic Party.
Ricardo Lumengo grew up in Angola, he fled his homeland in 1982 at the age of 20 years. He came to Switzerland, where he asked for asylum. After a few years, he obtained a residence permit and in 1997 he became a Swiss citizen. He lives in Biel since 1997. Lumengo speaks French, German, Portuguese, English, Spanish and Bantu languages such as Kikongo, Kikongo ya Leta and Lingala. He studied law at the University of Fribourg and worked as a legal adviser at the center of intercultural encounter Multimondo in Bienne. He is single and the father of two children
Lumengo was elected to the
Biel
, french: Biennois(e)
, neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin
, twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany)
B ...
municipal council in 2004, and in 2006 to the cantonal council of Berne.
In the
2007 federal election
This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...
, he was elected to the
Swiss National Council
The National Council (german: Nationalrat; french: Conseil national; it, Consiglio nazionale; rm, Cussegl naziunal) is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the upper house being the Council of States. With 200 seats, the ...
, as the country's first national councillor of
African origin (although there had been a councillor of mixed Swiss-African ancestry before:
Tilo Frey, served 1971–1975), and the first former asylum seeker to be elected into the council.
As highlights of his political commitment, we have particularly the fight against unemployment, the struggle for social justice and commitment to the rights of foreigners. He has acted for the involvement of people of foreign origin in public administration under the sign of the UN Convention against Racial Discrimination to which Switzerland adhered in 1994.
However Lumengo faced many racist attacks from his political opponents during his political career. He received particularly violent insults from the direction of the right-wing extremist party, Swiss Freedom Party (PSL), in 2006. Therefore, his opponents made use of Cybersquatting and had registered the domain “lumengo.ch” to build a fake “Lumengo webpage” containing racist statements. After a judge's decision, the domain remained under the possession and power of the PSL, but could not be diverted to this party. Visitors to this site were faced to a completely black and empty page. After some years, his political opponents have opened again the website to publish insults toward him.
Since his election to the National Council Lumengo has repeatedly been the victim of racist attacks, such as in 2008 during his speech on May 1 in Langenthal where an unidentified person threw bananas at him. In October of the same year, he was insulted by a member of PNOS (Partei National Orientierter Schweizer) from the party website with a contemptible text and a racist caricature. Lumengo generally receives letters with racist insults after each media appearance.
On 19 February 2010, Lumengo was investigated for voting irregularities. While admitting to helping voters fill in their ballot papers in 2006, he rejected all accusations of trying to falsify the results.
Instead, he appealed the verdict and left the Social Democratic Party, announcing he would retain his seat in the National Council as an independent politician. In the second instance on May 18, 2011, Lumengo was acquitted by the High Court of the Canton of Berne. In February 2012, the Federal Court which is the highest judicial authority of the Swiss Confederation, confirmed Lumengo’s verdict of not guilty . Lumengo is finally acquitted of voting irregularities.
Alongside his political activities marked as always by the defense of human rights, support for the integration of foreigners in Switzerland and the fight against racism, Ricardo Lumengo is currently committed to renewing ties with the African continent particularly with his country of origin, Angola, in order to benefit not only the political class but also civil society from his professional and political experience acquired in Switzerland. Ricardo Lumengo hopes so to make his contribution for the Strengthening of democratic institutions and good governance.
External links
Personal website*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumengo, Ricardo
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians
Living people
Angolan emigrants to Switzerland
Naturalised citizens of Switzerland
People from Uíge Province
Swiss people of Angolan descent
Year of birth missing (living people)