[1] He served as chairman of the youth organization of the Swedish Social Democrats from 1972 to 1978, and then worked as a journalist.

[2] In the early 1990s he was the mayor of Malmö, and then president of the Swedish Film Institute before receiving his first government appointment in 1998.

The appointment was mainly to make him the acting prime minister under Göran Persson, when the latter received knee surgery in early June.

However, at the same time it was also announced that Engqvist would step down from his government posts on 1 October,[3] to become the new Governor of Jönköping County.

The appointment drew criticism because of his close ties to the Social Democratic Party and the government.