Nalin Pekgul

After an absence from Swedish politics of seven years, Pekgul announced in 2018 that she would make a political comeback to campaign against religious extremism and honour culture. She campaigned in Gothenburg with Ann-Sofie Hermansson, chairman of the municipal council. She told Aftonbladet, "For me, the fight against the Sweden Democrats and other extremists is what makes me engage." The Social Democrats have been criticised for not raising issues of honour violence for fear of losing votes.

Between 1994–2002, Pekgül was a member of the Swedish parliament. She was chairwoman of Social Democratic Women in Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund) 2003-2011. Aftonbladet noted that Pekgul was the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Swedish parliament.

In 1982, Pekgul joined the Swedish Social Democratic Youth Association (SSU) in Tensta, North-West Stockholm.

Pekgul was born in Batman, Turkey, but immigrated to Sweden from Turkey with her family in 1980 when she was 13. She is the sister of the Kurdish nationalist and anti-racist activist Kurdo Baksi and niece of the author Mahmut Baksi. Pekgul trained as a nurse, a profession in which she worked both before and after her election as a politician.

Nalin Pekgul (née Baksi, born 30 April 1967) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, nurse and former parliamentarian. She was the first Muslim woman to sit in the Swedish Parliament.