Because trying to knock sense into the heads of the Stalinist Sweden political elite, while being called every name in the book, is a depressing task.
Sweden Democrat head: ‘I’m on antidepressants’
Published: 27 Mar 2015 15:07 GMT+01:00
The leader of the Sweden Democrats, who has also struggled with gambling problems, has been on sick leave since October 2014, due to chronic fatigue following his party’s election campaign.
It was revealed earlier this week that he is set to announce his return to politics at 9pm on Friday, as a guest on the popular television talk show Skavlan, broadcast on SVT.
Åkesson, whose appearance has changed markedly over his six months away from the public spotlight, talks about meeting a psychologist after he was first diagnosed with his illness.
“The first thing I said was that I didn’t want any pills. And from what I’ve understood very many react that way at the beginning, that ‘I’m going to make it through this without that’. It took a few days before I went to the pharmacy and collected them, then I felt dizzy for about two weeks. After that it has got better. If it’s because of the pills, something else or if it’s a combination, I don’t know. But I think they have helped me,” he tells the studio audience in a clip quoted by tabloid Expressen.
The Sweden Democrats are the third largest political group in Sweden, scoring a record 12.9 percent of the vote in September’s election. During Åkesson’s six-month absence, Mattias Karlsson has been the party’s acting leader and some had suggested that he could take over the helm of the party permanently.
