Muharrem Demirok has made Lööf’s old party invisible
share-arrowDela
unsaveSpara
- Muharrem Demirok, the leader of the Center Party, has been too invisible a year into his leadership role, and the party is now close to the Riksdag barrier.
- Having chosen criticism of the market school as his first public point of contention, Demirok breaks with previous center party policies and creates confusion among voters.
- Aftonbladet’s editorial board thinks that Demirok needs to be heard more and make the Center Party more relevant in the political debate again.
ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from OpenAI and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.
Show more
chevron-down
expand-left
full screen Muharrem Demirok must make the Center Party relevant to the voters. Photo: Björn Lindahl
This weekend, the Center Party’s municipal days are held in Umeå Folkets hus. It is a sprained party that gathers. Muharrem Demirok celebrates a year on the center throne but has not yet managed to lift his little kingdom.
expand-left
full screen Annie Lööf is missing from the debate.
Annie Lööf left a big void behind her, both in the party and in the public debate.
In the 2022 election, the Center received 6.7 percent and became the election’s big loser. Since then, the party has retreated even more and is now close to the Riksdag barrier. In confidence polls, only the Green Party’s newly elected spokesperson Daniel Helldén arouses less enthusiasm than the center leader.
Muharrem Demirok hasn’t had a flying start, to put it mildly.
Irrelevant in the Riksdag
This can be explained by the Center Party’s hopeless position in the Riksdag. Their desire to be in the middle has led to them becoming irrelevant and lacking in influence. But even Demirok himself has been far too invisible. When he is heard, he gives a likeable and solid impression.
The problem is that he doesn’t sound like a centrist.
As his first point of contention, Demirok chose to go on the offensive against the market school. Admittedly, criticism of the Swedish independent school reform – which led to gross segregation and satisfaction ratings – has spread across broad sections of the population. But Annie Lööf’s Center Party was an ardent protector of the system.
As a voter, it is certainly difficult to put the equation together with the sudden turn of events in the school issue.
Growing up in the red-green Vårby farm
Muharrem Demirok’s upbringing in the Stockholm suburb Vårby gård also creates “syntax error” in many minds. A red-green stronghold where S, V and MP got 60 percent in the last election. But Demirok became a centrist. It’s certainly an interesting choice for a suburban guy, but also a bit unexpected.
Muharrem Demirok sounds a lot like a bigot, so what are his centrist motivations?
Perhaps it will become somewhat clearer after the weekend’s municipal days. There is an EU election at stake in the summer ahead. On the schedule for this weekend’s seminars are given points such as the school, healthcare and sparsely populated areas policy.
“More porn in school”
The most reminiscent of the party’s happy days as the “Stureplanscenter” is the Center women’s seminar with the intriguing title “More porn in school!”. Regardless of what the Center women have cooked up, it can’t be all bad. A few political electric shocks are needed to shake life into today’s Center Party.
expand-left
full screen Program item for the weekend: More porn in school!
—