Sweden Elects: What we learned from party leaders' keynote speeches
The key points from the main parties – and a recent poll which shows that the Sweden Democrats could find themselves in a position they're not used to in the upcoming Swedish election. The Local's Emma Löfgren rounds up the week in politics.
What was supposed to be a week of political debate and the informal start of the 2022 election campaign turned into tragedy when one of Sweden’s leading voices on mental health was stabbed to death at the heart of the country’s political festival, Almedalen Week, by a man with links to neo-Nazi organisations.
My colleagues have covered the attack extensively on The Local, and journalist David Crouch wrote about what it means for Swedish democracy in this article.
A roundup of the party leaders' Almedalen speeches
What new policy proposals came out of Almedalen? Not many, and the biggest surprise was the lack of surprises and policy initiatives, but as is tradition the party leaders all gave a keynote speech each – here's a roundup of what they said.
Green Party co-leader Per Bolund said his party wanted to invest 100 billion kronor a year on speeding up the green transition, but spoke for over 13 minutes before mentioning the environment, saying that they were campaigning on a promise to boost welfare in schools and healthcare.
Annie Lööf of the Centre Party, who took the stage just five hours after the stabbing, rejected “political gimmicks, conflicts and harsh words” and presented herself as a unifying figure in the middle of Swedish politics – or the party that has the power to potentially become king makers.
Johan Pehrson, whose likeability has taken poll support for his Liberals over the parliament’s four percent threshold in the first three months of his leadership, performed less well than expected in a slightly disjointed speech, but managed to position himself as the moral conscience of the right – also a unifying figure who vowed to protect aid spending, asylum rights, and LGBTQ issues.
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, on the other hand, did not focus on unity, with much of his speech preoccupied with criticising the prime minister. The anti-immigration party also published 100 policy proposals, including reintroducing regular border checks, making antisocial behaviour grounds for deportation, a lifetime ban on returning to Sweden if you receive a deportation order, a new census and making foreign criminals serve time in prisons abroad.
One of the best things of #almedalen2022 was recording a special edition of our #SwedeninFocus podcast with the very knowledgeable and very nice @LorentzTovatt and @PatrikKronqvist in The Local's cottage in Visby. Thanks to both!https://t.co/fDxMg84H9K
— richard_orange (@Richard_Orange) July 9, 2022
In something akin to throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing if it sticks, it is currently unclear what we’re calling the rising rate of inflation and higher costs, with the prime minister trying to launch the expression “Putin prices”, Åkesson calling them “Social Democrat prices” and Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch using “Magda prices” to put the blame on Andersson herself. None of them roll easily off the tongue, do they?
Busch otherwise positioned herself as the defender of the middle class right to the comforts of owning a “villa, Volvo and vovve” (a house, a Volvo and a dog – no relation to The Local’s book of the same name!) and tried to convince rural Centre Party voters uncomfortable with the party’s left-ish move to give the Christian Democrats a try.
She was not the only one who tried to paint a picture of Sweden returning to better, more comfortable times. Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar continued her quest to appeal to traditional working class Social Democrat voters who may be feeling disillusioned with their own party’s move to the right and neglected by the Left’s campaign to attract young urbanites.
She also said that the Left Party would want a ministerial portfolio in a centre-left government after the election and made its support for the Social Democrats contingent on banning schools from making a profit – a proposal that the centre-left Social Democrats and Green Party are also largely in favour of, but which the Centre Party is very much against. It will be impossible for the Social Democrats to form a government without the backing of all three parties – although a recent poll by newspaper Aftonbladet and pollsters Demoskop suggests that if they succeed, the centre-left will have enough support to hold on to power.
That poll also has support for the Sweden Democrats falling compared to the last election, which could mean that Åkesson could be heading towards the first election in which his party does not grow. It could still be a successful election for them if the other parties of the right perform well enough to take power and give them an influential role, but for the first time he is dependent on other parties to be able to claim success.
The Moderate Party's Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the right-wing opposition, won't have an easier time than the left to form a government – which perhaps explains why he took the time to praise the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats. He also pledged to stop all tax rises, dubbing the September 11th election a plånboksval (a "pocketbook election").
Reader insights
I wrote about Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s uncharacteristically patriotic speech for her governing Social Democrats in last week’s newsletter and invited readers to comment. Thanks to everyone who emailed. Here’s one comment that sums up what nearly all of you told me:
“As an American immigrant, any calls to patriotism or national pride tend to make me very nervous – in the US those tend to be dog whistles for racism and nationalism, the worst of our country. Especially combined with the recent news like refugee resettlement, Turkish deportation, language requirements, and joining the Nato alliance, it makes me feel unsettled. Anti-immigrant nationalism, alliance with right-wing authoritarians in other countries, and pro-military jingoism is a bad road to be on.”
Sweden Elects is a new weekly column by Editor Emma Löfgren looking at the big talking points and issues in the Swedish election race. Members of The Local Sweden can sign up to receive the column plus several extra features as a newsletter in their email inbox each week. Just click on this “newsletters” option or visit the menu bar.
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What was supposed to be a week of political debate and the informal start of the 2022 election campaign turned into tragedy when one of Sweden’s leading voices on mental health was stabbed to death at the heart of the country’s political festival, Almedalen Week, by a man with links to neo-Nazi organisations.
My colleagues have covered the attack extensively on The Local, and journalist David Crouch wrote about what it means for Swedish democracy in this article.
A roundup of the party leaders' Almedalen speeches
What new policy proposals came out of Almedalen? Not many, and the biggest surprise was the lack of surprises and policy initiatives, but as is tradition the party leaders all gave a keynote speech each – here's a roundup of what they said.
Green Party co-leader Per Bolund said his party wanted to invest 100 billion kronor a year on speeding up the green transition, but spoke for over 13 minutes before mentioning the environment, saying that they were campaigning on a promise to boost welfare in schools and healthcare.
Annie Lööf of the Centre Party, who took the stage just five hours after the stabbing, rejected “political gimmicks, conflicts and harsh words” and presented herself as a unifying figure in the middle of Swedish politics – or the party that has the power to potentially become king makers.
Johan Pehrson, whose likeability has taken poll support for his Liberals over the parliament’s four percent threshold in the first three months of his leadership, performed less well than expected in a slightly disjointed speech, but managed to position himself as the moral conscience of the right – also a unifying figure who vowed to protect aid spending, asylum rights, and LGBTQ issues.
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, on the other hand, did not focus on unity, with much of his speech preoccupied with criticising the prime minister. The anti-immigration party also published 100 policy proposals, including reintroducing regular border checks, making antisocial behaviour grounds for deportation, a lifetime ban on returning to Sweden if you receive a deportation order, a new census and making foreign criminals serve time in prisons abroad.
One of the best things of #almedalen2022 was recording a special edition of our #SwedeninFocus podcast with the very knowledgeable and very nice @LorentzTovatt and @PatrikKronqvist in The Local's cottage in Visby. Thanks to both!https://t.co/fDxMg84H9K
— richard_orange (@Richard_Orange) July 9, 2022
In something akin to throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing if it sticks, it is currently unclear what we’re calling the rising rate of inflation and higher costs, with the prime minister trying to launch the expression “Putin prices”, Åkesson calling them “Social Democrat prices” and Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch using “Magda prices” to put the blame on Andersson herself. None of them roll easily off the tongue, do they?
Busch otherwise positioned herself as the defender of the middle class right to the comforts of owning a “villa, Volvo and vovve” (a house, a Volvo and a dog – no relation to The Local’s book of the same name!) and tried to convince rural Centre Party voters uncomfortable with the party’s left-ish move to give the Christian Democrats a try.
She was not the only one who tried to paint a picture of Sweden returning to better, more comfortable times. Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar continued her quest to appeal to traditional working class Social Democrat voters who may be feeling disillusioned with their own party’s move to the right and neglected by the Left’s campaign to attract young urbanites.
She also said that the Left Party would want a ministerial portfolio in a centre-left government after the election and made its support for the Social Democrats contingent on banning schools from making a profit – a proposal that the centre-left Social Democrats and Green Party are also largely in favour of, but which the Centre Party is very much against. It will be impossible for the Social Democrats to form a government without the backing of all three parties – although a recent poll by newspaper Aftonbladet and pollsters Demoskop suggests that if they succeed, the centre-left will have enough support to hold on to power.
That poll also has support for the Sweden Democrats falling compared to the last election, which could mean that Åkesson could be heading towards the first election in which his party does not grow. It could still be a successful election for them if the other parties of the right perform well enough to take power and give them an influential role, but for the first time he is dependent on other parties to be able to claim success.
The Moderate Party's Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the right-wing opposition, won't have an easier time than the left to form a government – which perhaps explains why he took the time to praise the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats. He also pledged to stop all tax rises, dubbing the September 11th election a plånboksval (a "pocketbook election").
Reader insights
I wrote about Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s uncharacteristically patriotic speech for her governing Social Democrats in last week’s newsletter and invited readers to comment. Thanks to everyone who emailed. Here’s one comment that sums up what nearly all of you told me:
“As an American immigrant, any calls to patriotism or national pride tend to make me very nervous – in the US those tend to be dog whistles for racism and nationalism, the worst of our country. Especially combined with the recent news like refugee resettlement, Turkish deportation, language requirements, and joining the Nato alliance, it makes me feel unsettled. Anti-immigrant nationalism, alliance with right-wing authoritarians in other countries, and pro-military jingoism is a bad road to be on.”
Sweden Elects is a new weekly column by Editor Emma Löfgren looking at the big talking points and issues in the Swedish election race. Members of The Local Sweden can sign up to receive the column plus several extra features as a newsletter in their email inbox each week. Just click on this “newsletters” option or visit the menu bar.
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