Ian Wachtmeister

Who is Ian Wachtmeister?

Count Ian Melcher Shering Wachtmeister is a Swedish industrialist and far-right politician. He was a member of the Swedish Riksdag from 1991 to 1994. He is the son of Count Ted Wachtmeister and Adrienne, née De Geer.

Wachtmeister studied mining and metallurgy at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and graduated in 1957. He then embarked on a successful industrial career culminating in CEO posts at Oxelösunds Järnverks AB 1970-1978 and Gränges Aluminium AB 1978-1983.

Together with record company owner Bert Karlsson he founded the populist political party New Democracy, and as party leader achieved parliamentary representation in the 1991 general election. The party's criticism of the Swedish immigration politics generated accusations of racism. Wachtmeister left the party in April 1994.

Prior to the election in 1998, Wachtmeister organized the short lived and unsuccessful Det nya partiet. Thereafter he focused on managing his business interests, in particular the company The Empire.

In 2010 he was associated with the political party Sweden Democrats as a "general advisor" to their leader Jimmie Åkesson. When asked in 2009 he expressed his intention to vote for the Liberal People's Party in the Swedish general election, 2010.