Hanna ''Sofia'' Margareta Arkelsten (born 6 December 1976 in

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 ...

) 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

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

. She served 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 ...

of the

Swedish Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

from 2006 to 2018, representing her home constituency of

Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality or the City of Stockholm ( sv, Stockholms kommun or ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, maki ...

. Arkelsten served as Secretary of the Moderate Party from 2010 to 2012 and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2014.

Career

Early career

Arkelsten previously worked on Svensk Handel and on ICA Sweden as director of communications. She was previously active in municipal politics in Stockholm, including the Environment and Health Committee, Maria-Gamla Stan District and the City Council. Between 1998-1999 she was the Chairman of student organization Free Conservative Lawyers.

Party Secretary

On 1 October 2010 she replaced

Per Schlingmann Per Schlingmann (; born 16 October 1970 in Borås) was the party secretary of the Swedish Moderate Party between 28 September 2006 and 1 October 2010 (succeeding Sven Otto Littorin), and a prominent figure in its political reorientation following t ...

as party-Secretary of the

. On 20 April 2012 she resigned of her own accord.

Personal life

Sofia Arkelsten was born in

. In April 2011 she married Olof Torvestig and she is an outspoken vegetarian. Her first child, a daughter, was born on 25 November 2012. On 16 October 2014, Arkelsten made public that she was diagnosed with chronic disease

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

(MS).Swedish top-politician Sofia Arkelsten: I'm diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
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References

External links

Sofia Arkelsten
at the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

website Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party Living people 1976 births Women members of the Riksdag 21st-century Swedish women politicians {{Sweden-Moderate-politician-stub