Alice Bah Kuhnke (born Alice Bah; 21 December 1971) is a Swedish

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, ...

for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

who is currently a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since 2019. Previously she served as the Minister of Culture and Democracy From October 2014 to January 2019. Before going into politics, she was a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a " television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

. She also helped found the

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

Sektor3. She was elected Member of the European Parliament in the

2019 European Parliament election in Sweden European Parliament elections were held in Sweden in May 2019 to elect the country's twenty members of the European Parliament. Opinion polls Graphical summary Vote share Results Voter demographics Voter demographics of the 2019 Euro ...

Biography

Bah grew up in Horda in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipa ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, the daughter of a Gambian father and a Swedish mother. She attended a track-and-field-oriented high school in

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

and was one of the country's best female sprinters in the late 1980s, with the 200-meter dash her speciality.

Television career

Bah's television career began with SVT's " Disney Club" in 1992. Between 1998 and 1999, she had her own talk show at TV4 and many other television assignments, including the current-event show "Kalla fakta". On 16 January 2001, She hosted the televised music festival Artister mot nazister in

Globen Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...

Private and public sector career

Alice Bah Kuhnke was Director General for the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society 2013-2014. She also worked as General Secretary for the NGO Fairtraide Sweden (''Rättvisemärkt'') 2004-2007 In September 2009, Bah took the position of manager of

environmental quality "Environmental Quality" is a set of properties and characteristics of the environment, either generalized or local, as they impinge on human beings and other organisms. It is a measure of the condition of an environment relative to the requirements ...

and

corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...

at ÅF. Alongside that job, she served on the board of a small internet design firm, Doberman.

Political career

In 1994, Bah campaigned actively for her country to join the EU in a referendum.Charlie Duxbury (May 23, 2019)
Big names aim to swap national politics for EU career
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''. After leaving television to study

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, she headed a philanthropic fund at the Swedish insurance company

Skandia Skandia is a financial services corporation in Sweden. History Skandia started out as a Swedish insurance company in 1855. Today the brand operates in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Skandia also operates an internet bank called Skan ...

. Bah was a member of the

Swedish Church The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden ...

synod from 2006 until 2010, a member of the board of the

Royal Dramatic Theater The Royal Dramatic Theatre ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The the ...

, and Vice President of

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Sw ...

Sweden. On 3 October 2014, Bah was appointed Minister of Culture and Democracy in the Löfven Cabinet. In addition to her role in government, she served as the Green Party's representative at the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that represents national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Free ...

from 2016.

Member of the European Parliament, (2019–present)

In 2019, Bah stood down as minister to lead her party's list for the European elections. In parliament, she has since been serving as deputy chairwoman of the

Greens–European Free Alliance The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) is a political group of the European Parliament composed primarily of green and regionalist political parties. Formed following the 1999 European elections for the 5th European Parliament, th ...

(Greens/EFA) group, under the leadership of co-chairs Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts. She also joined the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ...

and the

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is a committee of the European Parliament. Membership Chair Vice Chairs *Eugenia Rodríguez Palop * Sylwia Spurek * Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi *Robert Biedroń Members *Regina Bastos ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, Bah is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Corruption, the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Racism and Diversity, the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Union ...

and the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals. In January 2022, she was the Greens/EFA candidate as a new

President of the European Parliament President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

. She was not elected, having garnered only 101 votes in the first round.

Personal life

In her late teens, Bah was engaged for two years to

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

Olympic finalist and World Silver Medalist

Mattias Sunneborn Mattias Sunneborn (born 27 September 1970 in Bunge, Gotland) is a Sweden, Swedish long jumper. He was an Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump#Finals, Olympic finalist in 1996. He was the 1996 1996 European Athletics Indoor C ...

. In 1998, she married TV personality Henrik Johnsson, from whom she was divorced in 2002. The following year, she married actor and singer Johannes Kuhnke, with whom she has three daughters.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bah Kuhnke, Alice 1971 births Living people Swedish television journalists Swedish people of Gambian descent Swedish Ministers for Culture Green Party (Sweden) politicians Women government ministers of Sweden Women television journalists Green Party (Sweden) MEPs MEPs for Sweden 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians YMCA leaders People from Värnamo Municipality