If you want to bury a troublesome piece of news, a classic strategy is to broadcast it late on a Friday afternoon when all the reporters are about to take the weekend off. Also, if you can do it in the shadow of a big news event – all the better.
It is therefore perhaps no coincidence that the announcement that the Social Democrats are firing their member of parliament Jamal El-Haj came at 4 pm on a Friday on the same day that the Green Party’s spokeswoman Märta Stenevi resigned.
The handling of Jamal El-Haj is deeply embarrassing for the Social Democrats and party leader Magdalena Andersson. It all started when El-Haj defied the party leadership and attended a conference where the chairman was singled out as closely linked to the terrorist organization Hamas.
Reactions from the parent party were surprisingly mild. El-Haj left his position as deputy in the Riksdag’s foreign affairs committee. But otherwise the party backed him. Magdalena Andersson repeated time and time again with increasing emphasis that El-Haj “devoted his life to fighting Hamas” and that there was therefore no reason to question his judgement. Each time Magdalena Andersson repeated those words, she lashed harder and harder to the mast because Jamal El-Haj’s political future.
Why this patience? Sources describe several reasons. In part, Jamal El-Haj was a strong and reliable vote magnet in the Malmö region. But a source also describes that Magdalena Andersson’s baldness seems to have played a role:
– She doesn’t like to feel pressured. Magdalena thought that the opposition and the media pushed her in a certain direction. Then she kicks back.
The straw that finally broke the camel’s back was Expressen’s revelation that Jamal El-Haj tried to influence an asylum case. Suddenly the party cut short the process with their favorite and El-Haj went out head first.
But even if S tries to minimize the damage through a late press conference and only a written statement from the party leader – it is already too late. Magdalena Andersson put her honor on the line for a person whom she was forced to fire shortly afterwards. The Tidö parties will not let her forget that.