Signal & Brus

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Try taking leave from a new job before you have even started—and then waiting for it to be approved after the leave is already over. It sounds like a parody of working life. In Sweden’s parliament, it is a matter for the next meeting.

Mohamed Ali (Left Party) requested leave from 28 September to 11 October, beginning on the first day of the new parliamentary term. According to today’s reporting, the application is to be discussed again on Wednesday, 14 October. By then, the period will already have passed. The leave has not yet been granted—but an approval would therefore come after the fact.

Formally, his mandate has begun. What has not begun is his service. That distinction hardly makes the situation less strange to those of us who are expected to start working when a new job begins.

The background is the investigation into suspected electoral fraud in his personal campaign. Ali himself has not been formally notified of any criminal suspicion. My objection here concerns the conditions attached to the office, not a claim that he is guilty.

Ali has now also reported sick. According to Aftonbladet, whose report is also repeated by SvD, he called the parliamentary administration before eight o’clock on the morning of 12 October and said that he was ill. The sick report therefore came the day after the requested leave period had ended. The reason for his absence is unclear to me, and I will not guess at a diagnosis. But if illness continues to prevent him from serving, parliament should require a medical certificate after one week. That is in fact already required by the rules: for sick leave lasting more than seven days, a certificate must confirm that the member is unable to perform the duties of the office.

I have no objection to politicians being well paid. By all means, pay them twice as much as today—when they serve and take responsibility. A demanding office may cost money. But the law entitles them to remuneration during leave shorter than one month. That is a principle I want to change: ordinary leave of absence should be unpaid. In cases of documented illness, reasonable sickness-insurance rules should apply, as they do to others.

No political golden parachutes. No special income without work simply because someone once held the right title. An earned pension is one thing; expecting voters to continue supporting someone who has left office is another.

Politicians should be the people’s humble representatives—not a modern upper class with a fast lane through working life and privileges that follow them long after their office has ended.

Starting point: Expressen’s live coverage of Sweden’s 2026 election. Supplemented by Aftonbladet’s report of the sick notification and the parliament’s rules. The situation described is current as of 12 October 2026.

This translation was prepared with AI assistance. The original featured illustration was AI-generated.