The political positioning weekend got off to a flying start on Friday when SD leader Jimmie Åkesson announced that the party can drop its demand for ministerial posts in a bourgeois government. In that scenario, SD would therefore tolerate an Ulf Kristersson-led coalition of the 136 parliamentary mandates that M, C, KD and L have together.
- If a bourgeois minority government like this takes office, we will be able to act as a powerful opposition. We will be able to have a majority together with the Social Democrats, for example, said Jimmie Åkesson.
The move would potentially open the door for C to become a government party with its former Alliance colleagues, as it eliminates one of the party's red lines of absolutely not being in government with either V or SD. Åkesson's announcement also gave momentum to S, who now see a threat to the red-green alternative they went to the election on and received a fragile majority of 176 seats for.
The countermovement from S
S leader Magdalena Andersson started Sunday morning by formulating her countermovement on social media: "During the coming week, I want to work for a government consisting of S, C and MP, in close cooperation with V, to be able to take office and implement the political direction that the Swedish people have voted for".
Later, she called a press conference:
- I judge that the Center Party's red lines are rooted in ideology, while the Left Party is above all looking to secure its influence, was her stated analysis of the government formation, which in practice would mean that V drops its demand for ministerial positions in exchange for "close cooperation" with S, MP and C.
- I would like to discuss that with the Left Party in the next few days. Of course, they must be able to get policies through in a collaboration like this. Of course, their voters must also be counted. V should be able to feel sure that they will not be snuffed out of any negotiation gains, Andersson said.
V does not budge
V's demand is a congressional decision that, at least so far, has proven to be very basic. Changing feet to become a support party is under no circumstances an option, according to party secretary Ida Gabrielsson, even if you were allowed to have your own political officials in the government office, as SD was allowed to have during the last term.
- We had already informed her before the press conference, that we cannot go that way, Gabrielsson said in SVT's Agenda, where she issued a warning that with such a development, it could end up with two right-wing blocs.
- If C opens to rule with total SD dependence, they will blackmail us in every situation. If you are prepared to make this page change, there is no stopping. I am very surprised that Magdalena Andersson wants to sit down and be blackmailed.
C's silence while waiting for S and M
Finally, C, whose leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, as expected, failed in a parliamentary vote for a centrist government of the type S, C, KD, MP and L last week. On Sunday, she refrained from saying anything about whether the party's demands influenced in any direction SD's or S's actions.
Instead, Thand Ringqvist repeated his request from Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson to see their respective solutions for how they want to govern Sweden. "We want to see the whole and therefore wait to comment on individual parts until we have seen both total packages," wrote Thand Ringqvist in a statement.
In the event that C were to choose M over S, Andersson warned Thand Ringqvist on Sunday. According to the S-leader, a rightward shift of that kind, i.e. a bourgeois alternative that would be dependent on the SD, would be "the biggest betrayal in modern political history".
Speaker Andreas Norlén (M) gave the probe assignment to Ulf Kristersson last Tuesday. The M leader was originally supposed to report back tomorrow, but on Friday the speaker gave him respite "with a few more days".
