thumbnail|Sjöstedt introducing himself at the Gothenburg book fair 2012
Tor Jonas Sjöstedt (born 25 December 1964) is a Swedish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament for the Left Party since 2024. He served as the leader of the Left Party from 2012 to 2020, was a member of the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, from 2010 to 2020, and was a member of the European Parliament from 1995 to 2006.
Early life and education
Tor Jonas Sjöstedt was born on 25 December 1964 in Gothenburg. His father worked as an engineer at hydroelectric power stations as well as a teacher, while his mother was a psychotherapist. He has one older sister and one younger brother. Due to his father's occupation, his family moved often; from Sundsvall to Västerås, before settling in Vänersborg.
Due to his dyslexia, Sjöstedt could not read until he was nine years old and found schooling difficult.
Sjöstedt worked odd jobs after graduating before moving to Umeå after the birth of his daughter, where he worked at the local Volvo plant's assembly line.
He joined the Left Party's youth association in Vänersborg at the age of 13, He supported the "No" side in the 2003 Swedish euro referendum. In the election, he was the number one candidate on the Left Party's electoral list in the constituency, which generally returns at least one representative. He received one third of all preference votes from Left Party voters, the most of any Left Party candidate in the constituency.
Increasingly popular among Left Party members, Sjöstedt announced his intention to stand for the leadership of the Left Party in July 2011. During the campaign, he advocated for a co-leadership system, arguing that a woman needed to be the head of a feminist party. He was nominated by the party's election committee on 10 December 2011 He was challenged by Ulla Andersson, Hans Linde and Rossana Dinamarca.
In August 2018, he criticised the tightening of Swedish immigration laws and rejected what he called a "competition in Europe to have the harshest policies", advocating the reintroduction of permanent residence permits and family reunification rights.
In January 2020, Sjöstedt announced his intention to resign as the Left Party's leader at their congress in May, citing a desire to spend more time with his family who were currently living in Vietnam. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the congress was postponed, and Sjöstedt remained as party leader until the congress could be held on 31 October 2020, when Nooshi Dadgostar was elected as his successor.
He criticised the Swedish government for its concessions to Turkey to secure NATO membership, accusing it of betraying the Kurdish people in Sweden and Turkey.
Sjöstedt was chosen as the lead candidate for the Left Party's list for the 2024 European Parliament election in Sweden and received the most personal votes in a European parliamentary election in Sweden, surpassing Marit Paulsen's record of 221,489 personal votes in 2009. He is one of the party's two MEPs for the 2024–2029 term. He is a member of the Parliament's Committee on Climate and Environment, the Committee on Budgetary Control and a deputy member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Sjöstedt is also a columnist in Västerbottens Folkblad.
Personal life
Sjöstedt married , a Swedish diplomat, in 2004. They have twins.
He moved to New York City in 2006, accompanying his wife, who was part of the Swedish delegation to the United Nations. During his time there, he was an active member of the Socialist Party USA. He moved to Hanoi in 2020, where his wife works as the Swedish ambassador to Vietnam.