Following a setback in Sweden’s national election, Sverigedemokraterna lawmaker Björn Söder has opened the door to dropping his party’s demand for cabinet positions to secure a center-right government, while party leader Jimmie Åkesson insists the ministerial requirement remains absolute.
Björn Söder Outlines a Path Without Ministerial Portfolios
Following an electoral setback for Sverigedemokraterna in the recent election, lawmaker Björn Söder is signaling that his party might need to reconsider its approach to forming a government. In an interview with Svenska Dagbladet, Söder outlined an alternative path for the Tidö bloc that could involve dropping the demand for cabinet posts.
Söder stated to Svenska Dagbladet that the most crucial objective is preventing the formation of a left-wing government. Under this arrangement, the party would operate outside the cabinet as a supporting bloc rather than demanding formal ministerial seats, taking a step back to continue as before without a seat in the government.
The lawmaker also pointed to the campaign rhetoric leading up to the vote. Söder argued that certain policy positions, such as the party’s push for a ban on facial coverings in public spaces, had gone too far and provided opponents on the left with ammunition for what he described as skrämselpropaganda
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Freezing Immigration Policy and Dealing With Centerpartiet
To make a non-ministerial compromise work, Söder raised the possibility of finding common ground with Centerpartiet. He suggested that both political forces might accept a four-year freeze on the immigration debate.
While acknowledging that Sverigedemokraterna and Centerpartiet remain total opposites on immigration, Söder argued that freezing current policies for four years would be preferable to the alternative of a left-wing government dismantling past reforms. When asked whether other members of his party might support dropping the ministerial demand, Söder noted that he would be very surprised if the idea had not been discussed internally.
Jimmie Åkesson Rejects Concessions on Cabinet Seats
Söder’s statements arrive just days after a similar suggestion from party colleague Richard Jomshof, who told Kvartal that the party might need to drop its ministerial demands if government formation talks dragged on. Those remarks prompted a sharp public rebuke from party leader Jimmie Åkesson.
Åkesson used the platform X to make it clear that the official party stance remains unchanged, writing that it is out of the question to press anything other than a red vote for a prime minister intending to form a government without ministers from Sverigedemokraterna. He stated that participating directly in the next government or heading into opposition are the only two options on the table, emphasizing that he alone holds the authority to negotiate on behalf of the party.
Centerpartiet Refuses to Cooperate with Sverigedemokraterna
The path toward a broader conservative arrangement faces steep hurdles beyond internal party friction. Centerpartiet leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has maintained that while her party is open to cooperation across various political lines, it will not cooperate with Sverigedemokraterna or the Left Party.
As political consultations continue under Ulf Kristersson, the open disagreement within Sverigedemokraterna highlights the strategic dilemma facing the right-of-center bloc after the red-green parties emerged from the election with a larger share of the legislature.