Oskar Freysinger (born 12 June 1960) is a Swiss author and former politician for the Swiss People's Party, who served as a member of the National Council of Switzerland from 2003 to 2015.

Background

Freysinger was born in Sierre. He studied at a German-speaking school in Sion, and later studied German literature and philosophy, and French literature, obtaining a teaching degree in 1985. He studied at the University of Fribourg. He has taught at the Lycée-Collège de la Planta since 1987. He is married to Ghislaine Héritier and has three children.

Political career

From 1997 and 2001, Freysinger was a communal counselor at Savièse for the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland. He co-founded the Valaisan branch of the Swiss People's Party, which he headed from 1999 to 2002. He became a member of the cantonal parliament of Valais from 2001 to 2003, and of the National Council of Switzerland from 2003 until 2015. His main proposals include the revocation of article 261 bis; hold naturalisation by popular vote; expulsion of foreigners convicted of crimes; and strict regulation of drugs. He has been considered "a leading anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic figure on the European scene". Freysinger played a crucial role in the 2009 Swiss minaret referendum to ban Islamic mosque minarets, and he participated in a counter-jihad conference in Paris in 2010. He has also been on the board of advisors of the counter-jihad organisation Stop Islamization of Nations (SION). He sees Islam as essentially a political religion and therefore subject to secular law.