STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s youngest ever cabinet minister, who came to the country as a refugee from Bosnia, announced her resignation on Saturday after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol.

Aida Hadzialic, 29, minister for secondary and adult education, revealed that she had been stopped by police in the southern city of Malmo and tests showed she had an alcohol level of 0.2 grammes per litre of blood — just the level considered an offence in Sweden.

“That was the biggest mistake of my life... I will take responsibility. I announce my intention to resign from my ministerial post,” an emotional Hadzialic told a press conference at government headquarters in Stockholm.

“I understand that a lot of people are disappointed in me. And I am angry with myself, and certainly I deeply regret it,” added the young politician seen as the future of the Social Democrat party.

Hadzialic was born in Bosnia and immigrated to Sweden at the age of five, in 1992, with her parents fleeing the war in the Balkans.

She became involved in the Social Democrats youth movement in high school and went on to be elected a municipal councillor at age 23.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2016