Happiness was great at the Liberals' election vigil in Uppsala when the first election forecasts rolled in. What seemed impossible a few weeks earlier had come to pass: the party survives in the Riksdag.
Then came the local numbers. "Crap" thought Thea Andersson (L), regional councilor in Uppsala.
- I went home. I didn't intend to miss the vigil, she says.
She became a regional councilor in June after her predecessor dropped out after the party settled with the Sweden Democrats to sit together in a government.
In the election, L lost all five of his mandates in the Uppsala region. Thea Andersson will remain in her post until the turn of the year, when a new regional board will take office.
In three more regions the party went out. Overall, L is now only represented in 12 of Sweden's 20 regions.
For the Liberals in Uppsala, this means that they will lose their regional party support of over two million kroner over one term. Two employees have been notified of dismissal. You cancel your meeting rooms at the Adult School.
Why did it go poorly locally, when it went well nationally?
- The absolute decisive factor was that Simona did a great job. There were tactical votes, but there are also meaningful votes that voters can stand for. The question is why they didn't choose L in all the elections, says Thea Andersson.
She participated in the evaluation of the 2022 election and hopes that an upcoming analysis can explain this year's election results.
But she has her own thoughts. One is that the party "didn't have time" for the local elections when it was so focused on the Riksdag. The question marks that existed centrally about the choice of path were straightened out in the settlement with SD, but did not have time to be anchored and carried out locally.
- Some local elections have gone very well. There have been strong representatives with very clear questions.
Thea Andersson also talks about identity, that the party has been divided and that the government has focused on certain issues instead of the whole.
- We don't talk as much about defense policy as we have historically. Foreign policy is also quite limited. Now we have a chance to broaden the voter offer.
She looks forward to the party being able to unite after the division of recent years.
- We do this through well-thought-out political work together where we find our way back to what it is that are our core values. Or choose new ones.
2026 is the second election in a row in which the Liberals lose a lot of influence in regions and municipalities. L was also close to being voted out in the large regions of Stockholm and SkÄne.
- We can't get rid of several. It is absolutely crucial.
Why is it crucial?
- Essentially, it is actually the financing issue. But it is also a core democratic mission.
Thea Andersson believes that the Liberals must be a "full service party".
- Our political identity must be recognizable at municipal level, at regional level and at national level. Voters should be confident in choosing us three times. Not just once.
One of the few larger cities where the Liberals advanced is VÀsterÄs. There is Anton Holmlund, chairman of the Liberala ungdomsförbundet, Luf, member of the municipal council.
- We had a lot of non-profit involvement in VÀsterÄs, a good first name and a substantive political conflict about care for the elderly, he sums up.
He points out that there were fewer names on the local party lists in this election and finds it worrying.
- There are definitely more liberal-minded people in Sweden than the local elections show. Those campaigns have not managed to reach enough people and have not managed to get people involved enough.
Luf was among those who criticized the choice of path in March with SD. Anton Holmlund believes that L could manage to remain in the Riksdag even without that settlement.
He calls for a renovation of the party. And then he mainly talks about the internal processes.
- Do you want it to work as it has for the past four years with fairly little member influence? Then maybe you need to write it down in statutes and structures. Otherwise, you actually have to follow the forms that we have.
Politically, he believes that the Liberals lack their own narrative about which party they are.
- It is not possible to build a party on school policy alone. There must be some deeper cohesive idea. Maybe we should have an ideology congress or something like that during the term of office and come up with what our role is in Swedish politics?
