A central source has said that the Christian Democrats and the Liberals are irritated with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for appearing to promise the Sweden Democrats specific areas of government responsibility if they are re-elected in September.
The irritation of both parties comes in the wake of Kristersson, leader of the conservative Moderates, telling a press conference on April 1st that if the Tidö coalition (as the right-wing coalition is known) win the election, the Sweden Democrats will be offered important ministerial posts on issues such as “immigration and integration”.
“It is stupid to stamp it before you have even negotiated policy,” a central source said, according to Swedish news agency TT.
TT also reports that overall the Liberals and the Christian Democrats support the Prime Minister’s announcement that the far-right Sweden Democrats will be allowed into government after the election, should the right-wing win. The two parties, which currently hold important ministerial portfolios along with the Moderates, see this as presenting voters with a united team against a divided left.
But irritation is growing over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson promising to give up responsibility for migration and integration issues to The Sweden Democrats. While Kristersson did not come out and say that that the controversial party would get that particular ministerial post, that was how everyone interpreted the announcement, according to several sources that TT spoke to.
In exchange, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson agreed to accept Kristersson as a candidate for prime minister.
Negotiations between the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats have been ongoing for some time, and at a later stage both the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have also been involved.
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The Moderates wanted the latter two parties to to attend the press conference with Åkesson, but they said no.
“The Liberals and the Christian Democrats did not want to do it without having been included in the negotiations or getting something in return. There is strong criticism from both the Liberals and the Christian Democrats that the Moderates have played away a strong negotiating card before the election,” a source told TT.
Liberal party leader Simona Mohamsson currently holds the post of minister for integration and the Moderates promising to give it up is “provocative”, according to the source.
Christian Democrats leader Ebba Busch was also quick to criticise the deal.
“There are five months left until the election. Why should we start exchanging currencies for different things that we don’t need to settle now?” said a well-placed source within the Christian Democrats.
The source emphasised that the balance of power between the parties is determined by the voters, and negotiations should take place in the right order, and continued the medium of exchange metaphor by saying that the Christian Democrats “have become more expensive”.
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The Christian Democrat source also told that their party’s perspective is that while there is strength in a majority government, “it is not certain that there will be four parties” in the right wing block after the September election.
Their party, the source told TT, is preparing for what happens if the Liberals were to leave or the Tidö parties do not get a majority.
“We have our team, the starting point is to work with that team, but in scenarios where we do not have a parliamentary majority – we will not say no to going to meetings, so to speak.”