Jonas Sjöstedt

Jonas Sjöstedt
Jonas Sjöstedt in September 2014
Leader of the Left Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 January 2012
Preceded by	Lars Ohly
Member of the Swedish Parliament for Västerbotten County
Incumbent
Assumed office 2010
Member of the European Parliament for Sweden
In office 9 October 1995 – 26 September 2006
Personal details
Born	25 December 1964 Oscar Fredriks Församling, Gothenburg, Sweden
Political party	Left Party
Other political affiliations	Socialist
Profession	Metalworker
Website	jonassjostedt.se

Sjöstedt presenting himself at the Gothenburg book fair 2012

Jonas Sjöstedt (born 25 December 1964) is a Swedish politician who is the current chairperson of the Left Party since 2012, and a former metalworker^[1][2]´. He is also a member of the Swedish parliament since 2010.

Sjöstedt was born in Gothenburg and became politically active as a union leader in the Volvo plant in the city of Umeå in the early 1990s. Opposed to Swedish membership of the European Union, he was elected Member of the European Parliament in 1995 for the Left Party as part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left, until he stood down in September 2006. He was elected as a member in the Parliament of Sweden in 2010, representing Västerbotten. In the election, he was placed number one on the Left Party list (which generally receives one representative in this constituency) and was elected in a personal landslide of one third of all preference votes (a plurality above 8% being sufficient for a one seat-party).^[3]

Living in New York City from 2006 to 2010, he is also a member of the Socialist Party USA, during a period he also wrote for Swedish leftist publications, radio and print columns, as well as works of history and fiction. He is married to Swedish diplomat Ann Måwe, part of the Swedish delegation to the United Nations.

References

1. Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Jonas Sjöstedt (V) - riksdagen.se". Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
2. "De ska leda Vänsterpartiet" (Press release) (in Swedish). Left Party. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
3. "Sjöstedt to be new Left Party leader - Radio Sweden - Sveriges Radio". Retrieved 13 September 2014.

External links

• Bio at Radio UPF
• EU Constitution: Political centralisation, economic liberalisation, austerity policy and militarization - not much left for the left in EU's constitutionby Jonas Sjöstedt 20 February 2005.
• Sjöstedt's website from his time as an MEP. (English Translation).
• European Parliamentdead link] Voting Record.
• En vänsterman i New York Västerbottens-Kuriren, 3 December 2006. Interview on adjusting to life in New York City.