Nikos Papadopoulos

Background

Papadopoulos was born in a small village near Kavala, Greece, in 1939.

Career

Nikos claims that these childhood experiences gave him an understanding of how important empathy and solidarity is to humans. After finishing secondary school, he had to look for further education abroad, as his chances of getting into a Greek university were at the time very slim. In 1962, he emigrated to Sweden, and later studied at Stockholm University.

Papadopoulos campaigned in the 1970s to give voting rights to non-citizen immigrants in Swedish municipal and county councils.

In 1996, he replaced Mats Hellström in the Riksdag, and in 1998 he was elected as a member in his own right. He was re-elected in 2002 and again in 2006.

Achievements

• He first ran in the 1994 Swedish general election, but failed to win a seat.