Sweden's youngest ever minister resigns over drink-driving scandal

Sweden's youngest ever government minister, Aida Hadzialic, announced her resignation Saturday after being caught driving over the alcoholic limit.

Hadzialic, 29, is minister for higher education and came to the country at age five in 1992 as a refugee from Bosnia with her parents fleeing the war in the Balkans.

She drank two glasses of wine before being stopped on the bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. She faces a possible term of up to six months in prison after police detected a blood alcohol level of 0.2 grams per liter.

"That was the biggest mistake of my life... I will take responsibility. I announce my intention to resign from my ministerial post," 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," she added.

Explaining her error, she said she had drunk one glass of sparkling wine and one of red wine after a night out in Copenhagen. Four hours later, she set off for Sweden's southern city of Malmo, believing that would have been enough time for her body to get rid of the alcohol.

In 2014, at 27, she became the youngest ever cabinet minister in Sweden's history.

Sweden is one of several European countries which have low alcohol limits for drivers.

Source : XINHUA