For the sixteenth time, I will now vote in a parliamentary election. Of course, many previous elections have breathed both big and small drama, but this time a shadow hangs over both the present and the future that I have never experienced before. The 2026 election is a fateful choice: Should we vote for the preservation and development of democracy, or should we get another four years with an increasingly advanced autocracy? The choice should therefore be easy.
Ingemar Petersson
On September 3, 1967, Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffic. An event that still fascinates me. That the whole of Swedish society could decide, plan and implement such a drastic measure as changing the foundation of our infrastructure. Incredible foresight and crazy courage to even begin to tackle such a project. One hundred years ago, the Riksdag decided that everyone should learn to swim. Lots of swimming pools were built. Every newly built school would have a swimming pool. When I listen to today's election debates, there is no one who even comes close to breathing such grandiose thoughts. What I hear are evasions and pointing fingers at the shortcomings of others. Where are the visions and courage of the 1990s and 1960s in today's political debate?
Erland Janzon, Gothenburg
It surprises me that no political parties have presented any vision of what Sweden's government could look like after the election. The only ones who have come forward are those who may not be able to cooperate. This makes it impossible for the individual voter to predict how his vote will affect the formation of the government either in a positive or negative direction. Considering the threats that the EU and thus also Sweden have faced from the erratic "potentates" in both East and West, we cannot afford a lot of time-wasting coffee ropes with the Speaker before we get a government that works.
Stig-Olof Olofsson, Sollentuna
DN's political reporter Annie Reuterskiöld asks if the Liberals can survive in the Riksdag. The Liberals are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and the more of us who vote for the Liberals in the September 13 election, the more impact liberal politics and ideas will have in our society. It is important for Sweden as a country that we have a liberal bourgeois party in the Riksdag that stands up for human values and the market economy and that values individual freedom and independence. So cast your vote for the Liberals in the upcoming election!
Jan Lindman, Norra Sorunda
Eric Lindblom uses the old SD slogan that "excluding around a fifth of the Swedish people cannot be democratic". With that approach, for the last century every other Swede has been excluded from democratic participation, depending on which bloc held government power. Each party chooses which other parties it wants to cooperate with. It is democracy.
Lars Wengrud, Bromma
A leftist, Gerty Fexler Höjer, is running in the upcoming election. Together with her husband, she runs a welfare company, from which, according to Expressen, they collected SEK 8.1 million in share dividends. The money has, among other things, gone towards the purchase of a Porsche, a Harley-Davidson and two BMW motorcycles. Is she in the right political party?
Mikael Albinson
Sivert Aronsson gives us a history lesson about the old liberal party's efforts for individual freedom. Sure, it's a shame that they are no longer the guarantor of that, but there is a "liberal initiative" to vote for for those who want to preserve liberalism.
Elisabet Näsman, Uppsala
The moderates say that it should pay to work, but the Sweden Democrats want to deport competent engineers. M wants to strengthen competitiveness, but SD does not want to promote a green transition that can increase exports. M wants to electrify industry, but SD tops wind power that can match electricity needs. Who wins such matches after a right-wing victory? At Tidö Castle, SD won in most branches.
Dag Henning, Linköping
There is a party that has "Believe in Sweden" as its motto in the election campaign. But when I read the leaflet I got from the party, there doesn't seem to be much to that belief. Several of the points involve portraying some of Sweden's residents as a problem just because they have a certain religion. If you want to believe in Sweden, you must believe in all the inhabitants of Sweden - at least those who behave? The same party also talks about Swedish values in all residential areas. But it is so and so with their own values. In the folder I can read that they want to regulate women's clothing by law. That's what they do in Iran, but it's really not something that belongs in Sweden. If you want to believe in Sweden, you must see all law-abiding and well-behaved citizens as an asset and include them, and not present them as a problem just because they belong to a certain religion, or have a background in another country.
Erland Sommarskog, soft-working Swede
"Taste and satiety are more important than the elderly's food reducing emissions" and "no student goes to the school canteen to reduce climate emissions", write KD's Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren and his party colleague, the municipal councilor in Gothenburg, Dan-Ove Marcelind, in a rather tasteless debate article in Göteborgs-Posten today. "The food must be good, provide enough nutrition and be something that the elderly actually want to eat", say the KD representatives, and there is probably no person on earth who has something to object to that. But "Göteborg's own governing document" prevents it, according to the meat and fossil lobby's favorite minister and his colleague. Namely, the food must also "contribute to reduced climate impact, reduced food waste and other sustainability goals". Then it becomes a problem for the minister and the municipal council, who conclude that nutritious and good food is incompatible with food that simultaneously reduces climate impact and is favorable from a sustainability point of view. Taste it!
Göran Lund, Halmstad
Emil Siekkinen is absolutely right on the submitter's side that the protection of nature's ecosystem services is an important security interest. Perhaps we can see a nascent awakening to this issue. Although it is not yet noticeable in the environmental policy of either the Tidö parties, the Center or the Social Democrats. It says a lot that Jimmie Åkesson (SD), as far as I know, has not even commented on the water shortage and the other environmental risks that threaten his beloved Blekinge and home municipality of Sölvesborg. And instead goes to the polls as a fossil fuel populist.
Niclas Kuoppa, Stockholm
Why not remove all transport of, for example, parcels, driving children to school, food and home care? It's just good to unwind the community. Packages can be picked up at the "post office". The children can get to school themselves. You can buy food yourself in the neighborhood store. All the elderly can live in fresh retirement homes with all the services they need. Then many homes will also be emptied for our younger generation. Young people can do "community service/military service" at our retirement homes. Think how much they would learn from life! If you think the earth should live, then do something radical, not just debate on TV!
Britta Pettersson, senior
Answer to Pernilla Strömgren (Noted on September 2): It does not help us that we were able to export when it was windy if we lack production for a windless week in the cold winter and if northern Sweden needs most of its own hydropower. Sweden's electricity consumption is also estimated to increase in northern Sweden.
Anders Jonsson, Jönköping
Epa and A tractors should not be driven on roads with a speed limit of 70 kilometers per hour or more. There are countries that have both minimum and maximum speeds on major roads in order for traffic to flow more smoothly, of course with the exception of, for example, towing or emergency vehicles.
Rune Winter, Hässelby
Now SVT is helping the bourgeois to win the election again. Last election, SVT focused on nuclear power. A lot of airtime recently for the Liberals in particular, which has paid off. The red-green ones are seen considerably less in SVT. Will SVT succeed again?
Ulrika Fjelner, Sollentuna
I sat down to watch the program "Utan karta i Ultevis" on SVT, about going out into the wilderness without a mobile phone and a map, but with a person with great experience. Was therefore so disappointed when someone had put on a terrible plastic music that had nothing to do with the program's content. It completely took away the mood for me that you couldn't let nature speak for itself, but had to put on sound as if you were afraid of the silence.
Lena Netjaeff, Stockholm
