Running For Office

Back in the day, did you ever watch the Alan Parker movie, Midnight Express? About a guy who smuggles hashish and ends up in a Turkish prison. I have seen it a couple of times. Why do you ask I hear you say? Well we have an upcoming general election here, in three weeks time, so everywhere you look there are election posters. And normally they all look the same. A smiling and styled politician on a very photoshopped image looking at you with the biggest fake smile that you have ever seen. So when I spotted this one yesterday, I stopped for a second look. This is Bengt O Björklund. Poet. Artist, and also running for office for The Left Party. And I can assure you that this photo is not styled in any way. Or photoshopped. Back to the movie Midnight Express, where there is a character called Erich. He is based partly on Bengt who was convicted for hashish smuggling in Turkey back in 1968. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Not sure what they want

Not sure what they want. The EU election is only two weeks away now.

Vandalised election poster

Local racists seems to disagree with Centerpartiet's stand in the upcoming European Parliament election as they have vandalised these election posters. As seen at the commuter station in Tungelsta yesterday. I took a party quiz the other day and I came out as a Centerpartist. That would have made my grandfather and my great grandfather proud as they were both members of that party.

A little scandal

Election Day. Sure is glad that it will be over soon. I have been trying very hard not to see all the election posters. That type of propaganda always get me angry. Locally and nationally it looks like a Red/Green coalition will take over, but you never know before that fat lady turns up I guess. I leave you with a local scandal. Everything was looking good for top politician and Social Democrat Robert Noord (blue shirt to the left). He was on his way to become the next Mayor of Haninge. But it's an election year and if there's something in your closet, chances are that it will come out. And it did, with just a week left to the election and today his career is history. So what did he do? He used his phone too much. He had the hots for a much younger woman in another political party (M), and in the end he sent her one too many text messages talking about how much power he had and what he could do for her if she just...

Street Protest

The general election takes place on Sunday. The ruling Alliance are predicted to loose the election, but it's not much between them and the Social Democrats that have a loose alliance with The Green Party, supported by The Left Party and perhaps FI. One party that no one will do any deal with is the Sweden Democrats (far-right, anti-immigration party). They held a rally in Handen yesterday. The party secretary Björn Söder and a local representative tried their best to be heard, but as per usual there was also a street protest by a few left wing parties, including the Socialist Justice Party. Fifteen police vehicles and fifty police officers surrounded Poseidon's Square during the rally. I decided to stay and document the event. Police arrested one protester from the Socialist Justice Party, but other than that there was not much to report. In the slideshow you will find some of the photos I took during the one hour long rally/street protest. On the top photo you can see two members from The Left Party demonstrating against The Swedish Democrats.

Bye Bye, The End

The general election takes place in September. By the looks of these campaign posters the ruling party Moderaterna,(part of a coalition), have already given up. At least if you only read the headline.

Election Day

It's election day in Sweden today. I met these volunteers in Västerhaninge. They were handing out ballot paper to voters. As I took the photo the Mayor came by and commented on the fact that there were mostly women here. The smiling man in the middle representing the Liberal Party had a look at the photo and said that he looked very slim on the picture! The people you see here represents the following parties:Moderaterna. Miljöpartiet. Folkpartiet. Socialdemokraterna. F! and Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna.

Tarantino's Favorite Actress

One of the first photos I took during the Haninge day celebrations at Lake Rudan on Saturday was this portrait. This is Christina Lindberg. She was working as a volunteer for The Green Party. Christina lives in Tungelsta and works as a journalist. I have met her a few times before. She is the owner and editor-in-chief for the aviation magazine Flygrevyn. But she is probably best known as a a model, and as an actress in many exploitation movies in the 1970s. Quentin Tarantino was a huge fan of Christina, and he based the character Elle Driver in his movie Kill Bill on a role Christina played in a film called Thriller: A Cruel Picture. I took many photos at the lakes and I will show you most of them in the coming days.

A Political Portrait

Sitting on my veranda reading the morning paper on Saturday I suddenly heard someone singing. I jumped on the bike and headed over to the park. The first thing I noticed there was two politicians. The man in the grass is Raymond Svensson from the Centre Party. He is a full time politician and group leader for his party in Haninge. And also the chairman of the Archipelago Foundation. It was the Centre Party that had organized this event. Did I mention that it is an election year? The surprising thing was the entertainer who sang Bellman and Taube in front of the old greenhouse. It was Mikael Trolin, also known as The Prince, (and yes, he is a real Prince, see my portrait of him from two years ago). He is now the leader of the Liberal Party in Haninge. And is running for a seat in the Swedish Riksdag. He was doing his coalition partner a favour by singing a few songs during this meeting. And as I sat down next to the blogging Raymond Svensson, The Prince sang the Dalarö Song for his friend.

Is it a bomb?

A suspicious object have been found at an election canvassing hut at the Västerhaninge shopping centre. The police has called off the area. The press has arrived, as has the bomb squad, and me of course.The election takes place tomorrow, sunday.

Police standing guard.



Bomb squad arrives.



The press photographers arrives.