During Monday, El-Haj announced that he is leaving the Social Democrats but will remain in the Riksdag as a political savage. Something that Lena Hallengren, the Social Democrats’ group leader in the Riksdag, thinks is unacceptable.
The decision was made after Jamal El-Haj, on Friday, was asked to leave his Riksdag seat after the Social Democrats announced that the party lacks confidence in the Riksdag member.
– If you run as a candidate in a party and then leave the party, I think everyone agrees that you should leave the seat when you leave the party. He is not personally elected either, says Hallengren.
“Puts own interests ahead of the party’s”
Hallengren also does not believe that the trust of the Social Democrats will be affected.
– I can’t know for sure, but I don’t think so. But we have a member who has shown that once again he would rather make another choice and put his own interests ahead of the party’s, says Hallengren.
According to Hallengren, it does not mean much to the Social Democrats that El-Haj becomes a political savage.
– But we lose a mandate in the Riksdag and it is of course unreasonable that he leaves the party but does not make his Riksdag seat available, she says.
Sandell (S): “You must keep what you promise”
Joakim Sandell, who is a Member of Parliament and chairman of S in Malmö, urges El-Haj to follow the candidacy declaration that all elected officials in Malmö have signed.
– There you promise the members of the Social Democrats in Malmö that if you leave the party, you also leave the assignment you were given by the party, he says.
– My firm opinion is that you should keep what you promise, continues Sandell (S).
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Hallengren (S) on the first S wild: “Unreasonable” Photo: Samuel Steén/TT