1. Ibrahim Omer was a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party from 2020 to 2023.
14 Facts About Ibrahim Omer
1. 2.
Ibrahim Omer's mother language is Saho and he is a Muslim.
3.
Ibrahim Omer fled his home as a teenager to Sudan, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees became involved and referred his case on to third countries for resettlement.
4.
Ibrahim Omer arrived in New Zealand in 2008, through New Zealand's refugee quota.
5.
Ibrahim Omer says that his time in New Zealand began with cleaning and scrubbing floors; this period included working as a cleaner at Victoria University of Wellington where he would study and earn a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 2016.
6.
Ibrahim Omer described working until 4am cleaning the university, then attending a lecture at 10am in a room that he had cleaned the night before.
7.
Ibrahim Omer has worked as a union organiser for E tu, and as a community advocate, including as chairperson of ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum.
8.
Ibrahim Omer was involved in advocating for a living wage, especially for cleaners at Victoria University of Wellington.
9.
Ibrahim Omer was placed 42nd on the Labour Party's party list, and Labour won enough seats to allow him to enter Parliament with that ranking.
10.
Ibrahim Omer is New Zealand's first MP from Africa, and the second MP to have entered New Zealand as a refugee, after Golriz Ghahraman.
11.
In February 2023, Ibrahim Omer was one of four candidates vying for the Labour nomination in Wellington Central for the 2023 election after Grant Robertson decided to stand only on the party list.
12.
Ibrahim Omer was successful in his bid and contested the electorate for Labour at the general election.
13.
Ibrahim Omer expressed a desire to focus on racism, unequal opportunities, and issues facing low-paid workers during his time in Parliament.
14.
In December 2020, Ibrahim Omer joined Green Party MPs Golriz Ghahraman and Teanau Tuiono in pledging to form a new parliamentary Palestine friendship group to "raise the voices of Palestinian peoples in the New Zealand Parliament" during an event organised by the Wellington Palestine advocacy group to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.