Fredrik Reinfeldt - Political Career

Political Career

Reinfeldt joined the Moderate Youth League—the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party—in 1983 at the age of 18. As a member of the Moderate Youth League in Täby, he challenged the leaders of the local league, who preferred to use the premises as a place to drink beer and wine rather than engage in discussions about politics. Reinfeldt, who is said to dislike hard liquor and to consume wine and beer in moderate amounts, started "Conservative Youth" (Swedish: Konservativ ungdom) and formed a bond with the mother party, eventually taking over the youth league in 1987. In 1988, he became a secretary (Swedish: borgarrådssekreterare) in the Stockholm Municipality Council.

He was active in student politics while studying at Stockholm University, eventually becoming chairman for the student party "Borgerliga Studenter – Opposition '68" between 1988 and 1989. In 1990, he became chairman of the Moderate Youth League in Stockholm, and in 1991 Reinfeldt was elected a member of the Riksdag—the Swedish Parliament. In the Swedish general election of 1991, the Moderate Party and its allies had considerable success, leading to the formation of a centre-right coalition government under Moderate Party leader and Prime Minister Carl Bildt. The 1991 government was the first centre-right government in Sweden since 1982.