Helldén is a very strong candidate

MP’s spokesperson Märta Stenevi believes that the conflict portrayed between her and Daniel Helldén is greatly exaggerated. The mentioned press conference has been misinterpreted, she believes.

– I think Daniel is a very strong candidate, says Stenevi.

With barely a week left until the Green Party’s congress in Örebro, it is still uncertain who will be the male spokesperson after Per Bolund. Two main candidates remain: Member of Parliament Daniel Helldén and municipal councilor Magnus P Wåhlin.

Helldén is the selection committee’s proposal. He was presented at a press conference together with Märta Stenevi four weeks ago.

Wåhlin has received open support from heavy districts and associations, including Grön ungdom and the district in Gothenburg and also ex-candidate Martin Marmgren, who dropped out of the race this weekend.

– I think that Magnus is a fantastic candidate as well and I have great understanding that he has support. That’s also how I think it should be in a party. We are not a sect, says Stenevi.

Downplays conflict

After the press conference in October where Stenevi and Helldén were presented, a discussion arose about how well their collaboration would work. Stenevi now downplays that there would be a conflict between them.

– I think that Daniel is a very strong candidate with many good qualities that would make him a good mouthpiece, then our party is so clever that it is the congress and the delegates who decide.

When she has to explain why Helldén would be a “very strong mouthpiece”, she says that he has a long experience in municipal politics and is a skilled debater.

– We have had a very good collaboration. So it would be as good as it gets.

She believes that the press conference has been misinterpreted.

– I would say that the conflict that has been painted is very, very exaggerated. A doubt about who should answer a question is not quite the same as deep conflict. It is clear that it affects the members.

“No secret”

After this, she and Helldén have spoken to each other on several occasions.

– It is no secret that we had slightly different views on how the party should communicate politics and what focus we should have, these have been very important issues for us to talk about.

The debate has revolved around whether the Green Party should be a party that focuses its communication on climate and the environment or whether it should broaden and involve such things as exclusion, equality and issues that affect people’s everyday lives.

– We are very much in agreement that in order for us to be able to gain trust in climate and environmental policy, which is our strongest issue and where we are the only party in Sweden that actually takes those issues seriously, we must also be relevant to the voters when it comes to everyday life, says Stenevi.

TT: Was it one of you who was allowed to come along?

– No, I probably wouldn’t say that.

Stands without a challenger

Helldén has been a traffic councilor in Stockholm and collaborated after the 2018 election with the bourgeois. Stenevi still does not see that the Green Party would move to the right if Helldén becomes her partner, she instead paints a picture of a Swedish right that has lost its liberalism and become repressive.

– I don’t see that we would move towards that at all, but in the landscape we find ourselves in relative to the other parties, there is no doubt that we are on the left in Swedish politics.

She herself is without a challenger before the speaker election on Saturday and she perceives the support as strong and that the party seems satisfied with what she has achieved.

– I am very determined to continue towards the election in 2026. So I hope that I will have renewed confidence and look forward to the congress very much.

FACT Märta Stenevi

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