Between the offices of the Moderates and the Social Democrats at the municipal hall in Täby stands an empty office.
This is the demilitarized zone, jokes municipal board chairman Erik Andersson (M).
Täby has long been a showcase for the moderate-led bourgeoisie. Both Fredrik and Filippa Reinfeldt have been active in local politics, the latter as both a municipal councilor and chairman of the municipal board.
Täby's municipal building is both bright and fresh. It was built in 2017 and the politicians all sit on the same floor.
Since 2010, the old alliance with M, L, C and KD has ruled together in Täby with a crushing majority.
The parties still have it.
But after this election, the Center Party is no longer allowed to participate. Instead, the Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats will rule in their own majority.
Out with the Täbyalliancen. Now Borgerlig alliance governs for Täby instead.
It is possible because the Moderates got 46.6 percent in the last municipal election.
- It was a fairly simple choice. We felt that the Center supports the left-wing parties in the government issue, says Erik Andersson.
Perhaps the Center Party should move into the space between S and M in the future.
C are disappointed that they were excluded from the board after 16 years of cooperation. They were surprised, according to incoming group leader Lena Kvarnström.
- I think it was strange to make decisions based on speculation because we didn't know what the government issue and the regional government would end up in, says Lena Kvarnström,
In the last election, the Moderates increased by seven percentage points.
The Liberals lost by roughly the same amount.
But despite L halving its support, they are satisfied with the election results.
The focus, according to Thomas Helleday, municipal councilor for (L), was to save the Liberals over the parliamentary barrier. The municipal election was not as important in this election, he believes.
He sees it as the voters think the party did the right thing.
- We saw it very clearly when we made our choice of path, when we actually also became clear about which government we wanted to see. We got both new members and members who came back, who might have left us in connection with the January agreement, says Thomas Helleday (L).
The January 2018 agreement was an agreement that kept the Left Party and the Sweden Democrats out of the game.
The Christian Democrats backed down by just over a percentage point.
- I take it to mean that our municipality residents are very, very satisfied with how the municipality is run. And then it is not so unnatural that the largest party that sits on the board also receives additional support, says Eva von Wowern (KD).
Municipal politicians often talk about the fact that municipal politics is different from politics at the national level. It is not unusual for various constellations to erase the red lines at national level.
But in Täby it is different. Here, the government parties of the previous mandate period at the national level choose to continue on their own.
- The alliance is a project that grew from the top down. It was not a popular movement in that way, says Erik Andersson (M) and continues:
- Many see the Center as traitors here. That they support left-wing politics.
Here, the government question has directly affected the possibilities for collaboration, according to Erik Andersson. Already during the last mandate period, the parties disagreed on a couple of occasions.
A year ago, the return migration coordinator wanted to invite municipalities to a voluntary meeting to increase voluntary return migration. It created an outcry in municipal Sweden, many municipalities boycotted the meeting. In Täby, the parties disagreed on how to react to the invitation.
What would have been the big difference in politics if the Center Party had sat on the board?
- Yes, good question, says Thomas Helleday (L).
- Locally, I don't think it would have differed that much, actually, says Erik Andersson (M).
Already during the last term, the parties disagreed on a couple of occasions, including whether to attend a meeting with the return migration coordinator and how the municipality should respond to a referral about the leisure card, the KD initiative on subsidized association life.
- Yes, we are sitting here on the mandate of the Täby residents and it is their interests that we are supposed to protect. And then we do it vis-a-vis the various bodies that we can do it, says Eva Von Wovern (KD)
