Published: Less than 10 min ago
Emanuel Ksiazkiewicz is elected as the new group leader for the Social Democrats in Botkyrka after the infected battle within the party.
35-year-old Ksiazkiewicz, who was nominated by the board, wins the vote against the former group leader Ebba Östlin, who was pushed in a high-profile vote in January.
The result of the vote during the annual meeting in the Hallunda people’s house was 121 for Ksiazkiewicz against 80 for Östlin, confirms Ksiazkiewicz’s press contact for TT.
It also means that he will probably become chairman of the municipal board in Botkyrka, but the municipal council must first make a formal decision on the matter.
Ksiazkiewicz was nominated as new group leader by the board on 12 March. Seven of the board’s nine members voted for Ksiazkiewicz and the other two abstained.
– We believe that Emanuel can have a very unifying force and is a future force for the party, said the party’s local chairman Jens Sjöström to TT.
Allegations of coup
Ksiazkiewicz was challenged by former group leader Ebba Östlin who was poked at a high-profile vote on 28 January. She was then voted down in a vote of confidence in the party in Botkyrka and resigned a few weeks later as chairman of the municipal board.
Those who support Ebba Östlin claim that she was deposed in a coup-like manner and that it is based on the fact that she was involved in stopping ABF in the municipality from running leisure centers after a report of serious abuses there. Her supporters have claimed that she was ousted with the help of people with links to gang crime.
Those who voted down Östlin dismiss it and refer instead to criticism of her leadership style and that she no longer has the trust of the majority.
Denied membership
Earlier this week, the Social Democrats’ party secretary Tobias Baudin announced that a decision by the party district for Stockholm County to deny 98 people membership in the party in Botkyrka would stand. Those persons were therefore not allowed to participate in the voting at the annual meeting.
– If you are 15 years old and share our values, you can become a member of our party, but that is not a right. And if we suspect that the purpose is to form factions, that is not the right basis for becoming a member, Baudin told TT.
According to Åsa Westlund, district chairman of the party in Stockholm County, the strong influx of membership applications came after recruitment text messages were sent around in support of Ebba Östlin.
– It is a combination of the fact that the influx of members has been completely exceptional. And that we’ve seen this message being sent around that people are being asked to come together to support a certain candidate in a certain vote, Westlund told Ekot after the party district’s decision in early March.
According to Westlund, the party had two membership applications during the same period last year.