– 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, says Tobias Baudin to TT.
He thereby establishes, on behalf of the party board, a decision of the party district for Stockholm County which was appealed to the party board. The district denied the persons in question membership.
Can’t vote
This means that the 98 cannot attend the meeting that S in Botkyrka will have on March 18. There, the battle over who will be group leader and able to assume the role of chairman of the municipal board in Botkyrka will be decided.
– We do everything we can to ensure that the members’ meeting takes place democratically and the district will be represented there, says Tobias Baudin.
The previously deposed group leader Ebba Östlin stands against the party’s nominee, Emanuel Ksiazkiewicz. According to the party, the 98 applications for membership are the result of a recruitment campaign by people who support Ebba Östlin and it has not been successful.
– There has been an exceptionally large influx of members, both in Botkyrka and seen from a national perspective. And there are clear signs that a faction is forming, says Tobias Baudin.
– The text messages that have been circulating about why you should become a member and where you are also prepared to pay the fee for these members are completely unacceptable.
Protracted battle
Östlin was voted down in a vote of confidence in the party in Botkyrka on January 28 and resigned a few weeks later as chairman of the municipal board. Those who support her claim that she was ousted in a coup-like manner and that it is based on the fact that she was involved in stopping the 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.
