The Big Bad Swedish Politics & News Thread

[CumbrianLefty]

She is also Sweden's first transgender cabinet minister

Meanwhile in TERFland, we still await our first trans MP.

[The Lord Marbury]

She is also Sweden's first transgender cabinet minister

Meanwhile in TERFland, we still await our first trans MP.

Eh, the discourse in Sweden can also tend to be pretty TERF-y, even if not at the same level as the UK. We still haven't had our first trans MP either, but we benefit from our cabinet ministers not needing to be MPs (in fact, they're not allowed to be both). But hopefully the appointment of Lina Axelsson Kihlbom is a step in the right direction.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Okay seems like there’s a COVID outbreak among Swedish politicians/party leaders

Annie Lööf tested positive first, she has met with party leaders in a debate and later a meeting about security concerning Russia.

Now also the Green Party leaders have COVID, along with several other MPs.

(It's always f**king Annie Lööf)

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Have the Swedish Democrats moderated in anyway since they became so big ?. I know they have historicaly had a reputation of being extreme even by the standards of euoprean far-right parties, but i'm wondering is that still true ?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

So, more drama:

M+SD+KD+L have said they are going to table of motion of no confidence against Morgan Johansson, who has served as Justice Minister since 2014 and Interior Minister since 2021, blaming him for Sweden's high & increasing crime rate.

Andersson has said that if he resigns, then the whole government will resign, because she argues that he is one of the three central ministers who will guide Sweden through the NATO process. He is also one of three ministers who are part of the government's security policy council (the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and the Justice Minister) In addition, the Minister of Justice is responsible for, among other things, Sweden's civil readiness, civil defense, the Säkerhetspolisen (like the secret service) and cyber security. He is also responsible for Sweden's arms export legislation and terrorism legislation, issues updated by Sweden's NATO application process.

While the Centre Party and Greens have been fiercely critical of this development, the Left Party is assumed that it will not support the motion of no confidence even if it could derail the NATO application, since it would happen basically regardless of who is in power because V is the only party that doesn't support it, so it would just be stupid and self-defeating.

There is, however, a question mark around independent Amineh Kakabaveh who doesn't rule out to vote him down in order to show her discontent with joining NATO and Andersson having to negotiate with Turkish President Erdogan. She will probably come around but she holds the balance of power as the sole independent member of parliament between the blocs that have 174 seats each.

So that's fun.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

the vote of no confidence against 👑beautiful flawless Queen MAGDA👑 and 💪actual boss Interior & Justice Minister Morgan Johansson💪 fails 175 to 174

Conservatives eat sh-t and embarass themselves yet again 💁‍♂️

[The Lord Marbury]

Since the election is over and a new government is in place, I thought now would be a good time to revive this thread.

Anyway, there has been some developments in the race to replace Annie Lööf as leader of the Centre Party.

Daniel Bäckström, the party's group leader in the Riksdag and one of the candidates really fumbled a question asked during a town hall meeting on monday.
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/76pk8w/daniel-backstroms-svar-om-samkonad-vigsel-far-fundera

The three candidates were asked if they would walk at the front of the pride parade like previous party leaders and if they would officiate same-sex marriages if they were able to. The two other candidates unequivocally answered yes to both questions. Bäckström first tried to dodge the question by saying he didn't have the right to officiate marriages and when asked what he would do if he did he said he would need to "think about it". Concerning the pride parade he said he would consult with the rest of the party board on what to do.

Understandably there's been plenty of criticsm of his answers, given that he's running to lead a liberal party that's been very pro-LGBT rights for the past decades. His background in EFS, an evanglical faction of the Church of Sweden which advises against same-sex marriages has also come to light.

A lot of political commentators have said that his candidacy is probably dead in the water due to this. Which is interesting because he was probably the closest thing to a frontrunner in the race before all this happened, since he is the most rural-oriented of the three candidates. What with his strong Värmland accent and background as a municipal commissioner in Säffle. With the party losing the most ground in rural Sweden in the election, it would've made a lot of sense to pick him.

The remaining candidates are Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist and Muharrem Demirok. Thand Ringqvist has roots in Jämtland but has lived Stockholm for a long time, doesn't have a particularly noticeable Jämtland accent and now represents the City of Stockholm in the Riksdag. Demirok grew up in a Stockholm suburb, has an immigrant background, and has been a municipal commissioner in the mid-sized city of Linköping in Östergötland for the past decade or so. So no particularly strong rural profile with either of them.

But Bäckström is still in the race, and he just got endorsed by Helena Lindahl, the sole Centre Party MP to vote against Stefan Löfven in 2019. Maybe he still has a shot, but I'm not the forum's resident C expert so I can't really be the judge of that.

[The Lord Marbury]

https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/muharrem-demirok-nominated-to-become-new-leader-of-centre-party

Muharrem Demirok has been nominated by the Centre Party's election committee to become the party's next leader, pretty much assuring that he will be officially elected to succeed Annie Lööf at the start of February.

Both of his opponents, Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist and Daniel Bäckström have withdrawn from the race. Daniel Bäckström was nominated to become 1st deputy leader, alongside judicial affairs spokesperson Ulrika Liljeberg who was nominated to become 2nd deputy leader. Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist declined to take up any position in the presidium other than that of party leader and will instead focus on parliamentary work.

Demirok had grown to be more of a favourite in the leadership race late last year after initially being seen as a bit of an underdog, especially after Bäckström faltered. Though there was a minor scandal in December when it came to light that he has two previous convictions for assault from the 90s. One when he was 17 and headbutted a fellow student in high school, and one when he was 23 and also headbutted someone at a student pub while drunk. Apparently these were deemed minor enough and too far in the past to disqualify him from being elected.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

After some poorly handled conflict about an idiot MP who resigned from the Social Democrats but remains in parliament as an independent, and an interview that she was technically correct in but should have avoided anyway, Andersson has taken a modest hit in popularity

[Estrella]

Not that Kristersson inspires much confidence, but Socdems’ popularity could be just the typical Swedish/Norwegian pattern of governments polling absolutely dogshxt numbers through the term and then getting reelected anyway.

[Flyersfan232]

Not that Kristersson inspires much confidence, but Socdems’ popularity could be just the typical Swedish/Norwegian pattern of governments polling absolutely dogshxt numbers through the term and then getting reelected anyway.

in some recent polls if the Christian democrats make it in the right wing bloc holds a majority

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Socialdemokraterna 2026 election campaign graphics just dropped: