02 February 2023

Muharrem Demirok, an alumnus of Linköping University, has been elected as the new leader of the Swedish Centre Party.

A person stands outside and peers into the camera.
Muharrem Demirok, alumnus of Linköping University, is the new leader of the Center Party. Photographer: Fredrik Wennerlund

Muharrem Demirok 46, was raised in Stockholm and moved to Linköping for studies at LiU in the late 1990s. He studied various single-subject courses and earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 2004. His interest in politics began a few years earlier, when he became a member of the Centre Party. Muharrem Demirok remained in Linköping after his studies and quickly built a political career. In 2007 he became deputy mayor of Linköping, a position he held until the autumn of 2022 when he was elected to the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament).

It is now clear that he will succeed Annie Lööf as leader of the Centre Party, after just six months as a member of the Riksdag.

“I see the role of party leader as being one of team leader. I want to involve the whole of the Centre Party in the journey we have to make, and I want everyone to feel invited,” he said to his party before the extra party conference.

The last LiU alumni to have been the leader of a political party in Sweden before Muharrem Demirok was Gustav Fridolin. The former spokesperson of the Green Party (2011-2019) studied to be a folk high school teacher at Linköping in the late 2000s. The current Speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlén, from the Moderate Party, who was both an undergraduate and doctoral student in commercial and business law at LiU, was named one of the Alumni of the Year in 2019.


Latest news from LiU

Four persons in chairs on a stage.

AI can boost financial decision making

Do you have limited financial knowledge, or prefer not to think about financial issues? Then there is great potential that AI can help, according to LiU researcher Kinga Barrafrem.

Nathalie Hallin and Hajdi Moche in conversation.

Religious people are not more generous – with one exception

Believers are no more generous than atheists – at least as long as they don’t know what the recipient believes in. This is the conclusion of a study carried out at LiU

Lots of cables connected to a computer.

Sweden to host European AI Factory

Sweden has been selected to host one of seven European AI Factories that will strengthen the EU’s competitiveness in the field. The AI Factory combines a state-of-the-art AI-optimised supercomputer with support for education, research and innovation.