The result in the regional election is preliminary and not fully calculated. Early on Monday morning, financial region councilor Aida Hadzialic (S) told DN that she expects the capital region to continue to be governed by the current coalition with S, C and MP and V as support parties.
- We have the second best election result in over 20 years, but at the same time follow a national trend. The Social Democrats will for the first time lead the region for two terms in a row and that is historic, said Aida Hadzialic.
But the Social Democrats are weakened and lose five percentage points, significantly more than in the parliamentary election. S loses eight of its 50 seats in the regional council.
At the same time, the success of the cooperating parties means that the distribution of mandates is almost unchanged. The Green Party is making strong progress, and receives five new mandates. The Center Party is also increasing, while V remains at 11.6 percent. The parties that have governed for four years gather a majority with a wide margin, 53.9 percent in the regional council, which gives 81 out of 149 mandates.
- The Green Party is the big winner of the regional elections. We are almost doubling our mandates, and I can clearly see that this will mean increased influence in regional policy for the expansion of sustainable public transport and that the working conditions of healthcare personnel should be improved, for example by shortening working hours, says regional councilor Jakop Dalunde (MP).
A similar tendency with loss for the Social Democrats and success for the Green Party can be seen in several other regions.
Dalunde says that the Social Democrats are the natural rallying point for the Green Party.
In the current government, however, there are tensions between the Center Party and the Left Party. V has been a support party for the coalition for the past four years, but now demands to be included in the board.
- If we are to continue the work we have started for more equal care, reduced privatizations and shorter working hours for the staff, it is necessary that we are involved in steering, otherwise we will not see results, says Anna Sehlin (V), group leader for the Left Party.
The center party is cautious about commenting on the continuation before the election results are determined, but is looking for a middle-of-the-road collaboration.
"We can state that there have been things during the past mandate period that have worked both well and less well. We see that there are good opportunities to find cooperation in the middle and where we get impact for our policy," comments group leader Michaela Haga.
The largest opposition party, the Moderates, is the regional election's second big winner. M, which lost in several elections, increased 3.8 percentage points in the regional election. Opposition councilor Axel Conradi (M) reacts to Hadzialic's statement and does not think that the outcome of how the region should be governed is clear. The moderates state that talks are being held with several parties.
- We have made a big journey during the election campaign, and have now come back as a Stockholm party, while S is retreating sharply. Stockholmers have given a clear signal that they want to see change, and there is a non-socialist majority in the council. There are all sorts of ways to build majorities, says Axel Conradi.
The moderates do not want to answer whether this means that M has opened the door for a collaboration with the Sweden Democrats. The party has so far had no influence in regional politics in Stockholm, even though the Alliance governed in the minority between 2014 and 2018 with passive support from SD.
For the Green Party, which before the election was part of a blue-green coalition with the former alliance parties, a similar collaboration is no longer an option.
- We did that solely to keep SD out of political influence, an attitude we then shared with the Moderates. But now the Moderates have gone in the other direction. And I think Aida Hadzialic did an excellent job as financial regional councillor, says Jakop Dalunde.
