Swedish Green Party co-leader Märta Stenevi on indefinite sick leave
Märta Stenevi, one of the Green Party’s two spokespeople, announced in a post on Instagram that she would be going on sick leave “for a while”.
“I’m worn out after the autumn,” she wrote, adding that this was due to private family matters along with “speculation and leaks” prior to the Green Party conference in November, and the general state of the world.
Stenevi was accused by union representatives in October last year of running the party in a “toxic top-down” way, as well as having a tough leadership style and not following party decisions.
“I thought it would be enough to prioritise, rest, and hug my children over the Christmas holidays. I told a journalist this autumn that I am ‘tougher than some people think’, and I am – but maybe not as tough as I thought myself,” the post reads.
She added that taking sick leave has been “difficult to accept”, but is speaking out in order to avoid rumours and “contributing to the culture of silence around going on sick leave”.
Stenevi also thanked her fellow Green Party spokesperson Daniel Helldén, who was elected at the conference in November.
“I’m sorry our working together hasn’t started out how we’d planned, but I’m immensely grateful for your support and our discussions in recent months,” she wrote to Helldén.
Stenevi did not give any details of when she would be returning to the position, writing only that she would be “stepping aside for a while”.
She is not the first Swedish party leader to go on sick leave. Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, took sick leave for exhaustion in 2014 before returning to work in 2015.
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“I’m worn out after the autumn,” she wrote, adding that this was due to private family matters along with “speculation and leaks” prior to the Green Party conference in November, and the general state of the world.
Stenevi was accused by union representatives in October last year of running the party in a “toxic top-down” way, as well as having a tough leadership style and not following party decisions.
“I thought it would be enough to prioritise, rest, and hug my children over the Christmas holidays. I told a journalist this autumn that I am ‘tougher than some people think’, and I am – but maybe not as tough as I thought myself,” the post reads.
She added that taking sick leave has been “difficult to accept”, but is speaking out in order to avoid rumours and “contributing to the culture of silence around going on sick leave”.
Stenevi also thanked her fellow Green Party spokesperson Daniel Helldén, who was elected at the conference in November.
“I’m sorry our working together hasn’t started out how we’d planned, but I’m immensely grateful for your support and our discussions in recent months,” she wrote to Helldén.
Stenevi did not give any details of when she would be returning to the position, writing only that she would be “stepping aside for a while”.
She is not the first Swedish party leader to go on sick leave. Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, took sick leave for exhaustion in 2014 before returning to work in 2015.
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