Lars Ohly (born January 13, 1957) is a Swedish politician. He is the current leader of the Swedish Left Party, a position he has held since since 2004. He had previously held the post of party secretary between 1994 and 2000, and has been a member of parliament since 1998. He was born in Spånga , Stockholm.

Fall 2004 controversy

Lars Ohly is a outspoken Communist. In an investigation and interview conducted by it was found that, in 2000, Ohly had reworded a letter of apology to Kiruna-swedes - victims of harassment from the Left Party after their return home from Soviet custody - with a number of critical references to Stalin being removed. In the interview, Lars Ohly was forcefully attacked and accused of not being democratic; Ohly defended himself on the grounds that being communist does not imply an endorsement of Soviet-style communism. The investigation also showed that Ohly branded himself as a Leninist as late as 1999.

Following this controversy, the leaders of all the other parliamentary parties have urged Ohly to drop his adherence to communism.