Ånneli Lindström

Ånneli Lindström
Secretary of State for Health & Social Care
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2023
Prime Minister	Clas Markussen
Preceded by	Valentina Haakonsdottir
Prime Minister of Ordennya
In office 10 May 2015 – 15 May 2018
President	Neo Isaksson
Deputy	Rune Nyström (2015-2016) Niamh Cooper (2016)
Preceded by	Frederik Xandström
Succeeded by	Ken Svensson
Leader of the Opposition
In office 15 September 2010 – 10 May 2015
Prime Minister	Frederik Xandström
Preceded by	Jakob Askildsen
Succeeded by	Joakim Persson
Leader of the Alliance of Socialists & Democrats
In office 15 September 2010 – 13 May 2018
Deputy	Anton Rudolfsson Ken Svensson
Preceded by	Jakob Askildsen
Succeeded by	Ken Svensson
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office 11 May 2010 – 15 September 2010
Leader	Jakob Askildsen
Preceded by	Charlie Rask
Succeeded by	Valentina Helenasdottir
Shadow Minister for Drugs & Addiction
In office 9 October 2007 – 11 May 2010
Leader	Jakob Askildsen
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Olivia Glad
Member of Parliament for Sandviksjö
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Victor Josefsson
Personal details
Born	(1979-06-15) 15 June 1979 Norrtälje, Osea, Ordennya
Political party	Labour Party
Other political affiliations	Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (2007 - 2018)
Spouse(s)	Nova Fransson (m. 2011; died 2018)
Alma mater	Linköping University

Ånneli Wilma Lindström (born 15 June 1979) is an Ordennyan Labour Party politician and social worker, who currently serves as Secretary of State for Health & Social Care. She previously served as Prime Minister of Ordennya between 2015 and 2018, Leader of the Popular Alliance of Socialists & Democrats between 2010 and 2018, and as the Member of Parliament for Sandviksjö since the 2005 election. As of 2023, she is both the youngest person and only openly LGBTQ+ politician to have served as Prime Minister of Ordennya.

Born in Norrtälje, a town in northern Osea, to a working class family, Lindström was taken into foster care at the age of five after both of her parents were arrested for drug possession. She was educated at Sandviksjö Elementary and later Sandviksjö High School, before receiving a degree in Social Work from Linköping University. She worked for the Sandviksjö Town Council as a Social Worker between 2000 and 2005, before being elected as an MP in 2005. While serving on the backbenches, she positioned herself on the left of the Labour Party. She advocated for a harm reduction approach to drug use, which earned her a promotion to the opposition frontbench in 2007 as Shadow Minister for Drugs & Addiction. She supported the 2007 merge between the Labour Party and the Democratic Centre Party, but joined Labour Left colleagues in calling for party policymaking to remain in the hands of party members.

Lindström was elected Leader of the Popular Alliance of Socialists & Democrats by a landslide in 2010, in what is regarded as one of the biggest political upsets in Ordennyan history, and later led the party to victory in the 2015 election. Negotiations with the Green Party led to Lindstöm taking office as Prime Minister, as the head of a coalition government. Taking office at 35, she is the youngest person to have served as Prime Minister of Ordennya. Her premiership was marked by a dramatic increase in public spending, particularly in the areas of welfare and healthcare, largely reversing the spending cuts enacted by the Conservatives between 2005 and 2015. Her administration also passed the 2016 Climate Change Act, which legistlated for the wide-scale expansion of renewable energy sources, as well as setting a government target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Her administration also saw the passage of the 2015 Gender Identity Act, which strengthened protections for transgender people. She also relaxed immigration rules, and introduced reforms to education.

Lindström resigned as Leader of the PASD in February 2018, after the death of her wife, Nova Fransson. She was succeded by Ken Svensson on 13 May 2018, who took office as Prime Minister two days later. She was re-elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2018 and 2019 elections. She has been praised for reducing poverty and homelessness during her tenure as Prime Minister, but has also faced criticism for increasing the deficit five-fold.

Early life and education

Ånneli Wilma Lindström was born on 15 June 1979 in Norrtälje, Osea, to Erik Lofven (1944-1990), an oil rig worker, and Elina Ericsson (1946-1992), a shopworker. An only child, she grew up for the first part of her life in poverty. Both of her birth parents were drug addicts, and as a result she was taken into foster care in 1987, at the age of eight. She was fostered for two years and then adopted by Karl and Elena Lindström. She was educated at Sandviksjö Elementary and later Sandviksjö High School, both state schools.

In 1997, she began attending Linköping University, studying social work, where she became involved with the University's Labour Society, eventually becoming Secretary in her second year. She graduated with a First Class degree in 2000, and returned to Sandviskjö to work as a social worker.

Career as a social worker and early political involvement

During her time as a social worker, Lindström was employed by Sandviskjö town council, and specialised in working with families affected by addiction, from which she drew on her own childhood experiences. She was also involved with the local Labour Party as an organiser.

In 2004, she was selected as the candidate for Sandviskjö at the 2005 election. Sandviskjö, previously a safe Labour seat, was held by an Independent at the time, but the incumbent MP, a long-time resident of Sandviskjö, was stepping down. Anticipating the seat returning to Labour, the campaign for a new local candidate attracted no less than twenty initial candidates. Lindström's campaign drew heavily on her standing in the community and her experience growing up there, as well as her youth and energy. She was able to attract the support of the local branch of the Public Service Union, which helped her make it onto the shortlist of candidates, before being selected as candidate by a vote of local Party members.

On election night, which saw heavy losses for the Labour Party, Lindström was narrowly elected as the Member of Parliament for Sandviskjö, receiving 32% of the vote to the Conservative candidate's 31% of the vote, while the Socialist People's Party received 29%. Elected at age 25, she was the third youngest member of the Chamber of Deputies at the time.

First term as a Member of Parliament

As a backbench member of the Chamber of Deputies, Lindström positioned herself on the left of the Labour Party, aligning herself with the Socialist Platform faction of the party. She was also appointed to the Health Select Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, tasked with scrutinising legislation put forward by the Secretary of State for Health. She co-wrote and sponsored a number of bills aimed at enacting harm reduction programs for drugs, but none passed due to lack of support from the government.

As a result of her advocacy, she was appointed to the opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Drugs & Addiction, assisting the Shadow Health Secretary, David Rask, in scrutinising government policy on drugs. That same year, Lindström supported the merge of the Labour Party with the Socialist People's Party, Civic Alliance, and the Democratic Centre Party.

After the 2010 election, Lindström was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by outgoing leader Jakob Askildsen as Shadow Secretary of State for Health.

Leader of the Opposition

Leadership campaign

Following the PASD's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015, Jakob Askildsen resigned as its party leader, triggering a leadership election. Lindström decided to stand as a candidate after being approached by several MPs from the pre-merge Socialist People's Party, who were reluctant to run a left wing candidate from their own ranks because they felt a left-wing candidate who was part of the pre-merge Labour Party would fare better.

Announcing her candidacy, she said she was running on a "clear, anti-austerity platform". She suggested that Ordennya should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. She would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50öre top rate of income tax. She added: "This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give party members a voice in this debate".

She indicated that, if elected, policies that she put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that she wanted to "implement the democratic will of our party". The other candidates in the race were Shadow Finance Secretary Esther Steffensen, Shadow Foreign Secretary and former DCP leader Nilas Ahmadi, and Shadow Housing Secretary Pål Skoglund. Several who nominated Lindström later said they had ensured she had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that she would win.

Lindström rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear her speak at the hustings across the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for her was dubbed "Lindströmania" by the press. Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of her leadership.

On 15 September 2010 Lindström was elected on first preferences with 55% of the vote, in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in Ordennyan political history. Her nearest rival, Nilas Ahmadi, finished with 23.5% of first preference votes, 31.5% behind Lindström.

First Shadow Cabinet

Lindström appointed her first shadow cabinet on 16 September 2010. She appointed her campaign manager and recently-elected Deputy Leader Ken Svensson as Shadow Finance Secretary, and promoted long-serving Deputy Leader and Shadow Defence Secretary Anton Rudolfsson to Shadow Foreign Secretary, in what was seen as a concession to moderates in her Party. She also appointed her leadership rival, Esther Steffensen, as Shadow Home Secretary. A number of female MPs, such as Valentina Haakonsdottir, Erica Oberg, and Sørine Hagelskjær were promoted from the backbenches to the shadow cabinet, creating the first gender-balanced frontbench in Ordennyan history. She asked Clas Markussen to remain as Director of Communications, but he declined, so she instead appointed Dagens Nyheter journalist Stefan Augestad.