Sigurd Kvammen Rafaelsen | |
Term Start: | 1 October 2021 |
1Blankname: | Deputising for |
Constituency: | Finnmark |
Office2: | Mayor of Lebesby Municipality |
Term Start2: | 24 October 2019 |
Deputy2: | Kristin Johnsen |
Predecessor2: | Stine Akselsen |
Birth Date: | 11 December 1985 |
Birth Place: | Sør-Varanger, Finnmark, Norway |
Alma Mater: | University of Tromsø |
Occupation: | Teacher Shop owner Politician |
Partner: | Sigrid Ina Simonsen |
Children: | 2 |
Sigurd Kvammen Rafaelsen (born 11 December 1985) is a Norwegian teacher and politician for the Labour Party. A deputy to the Storting from Finnmark since 2021, he has met as deputy for Marianne Sivertsen Næss since 2024. He has also served as mayor of Lebesby Municipality since 2019.
Rafaelsen was born in Sør-Varanger Municipality on 11 December 1985. He is of Sámi origin and is one of three sons of former Sør-Varanger mayor Rune Rafaelsen and Inger Blix Kvammen.[1]
He is currently in a relationship with Sigrid Ina Simonsen, the regional director of NHO Arctic. They both respectively have two children from previous relationships. Currently they're scheduled to marry in the summer of 2024.[2]
An inhabitant of Kjøllefjord, Rafaelsen has been a member of the municipal council of Lebesby Municipality since 2015, and served as mayor from 2019, with Kristin Johnsen as deputy mayor.[3] The duo were re-elected at the 2023 local elections despite Labour's significant losses in Northern Norway.[4]
He was elected leader of the Finnmark Labour Party in April 2024, succeeding former mayor of Nordkapp Municipality, Kristina Hansen, who had announced in January that she wouldn't seek re-election.[5] [6]
Rafaelsen was elected deputy representative to the Storting from the constituency of Finnmark at the 2021 election. He has been deputising for Marianne Sivertsen Næss from April 2024 while she is serving in government.
Rafaelsen is a teacher by profession. He worked as a teacher at the school in Kjøllefjord between 2010 and 2015 before becoming the manager at Coop Kjøllefjord SA. He also holds a bachelor's degree in state science and has a year course in German from the University of Tromsø.[7]
He has also chaired the interest organisations Naturressurskommunene and Landssammenslutningen av vindkraftskommuner since June and August 2023 respectively.[8] [9]