Sverigedemokraterna's leader Jimmie Åkesson demands that the Liberals back down from their stance against including SD in a future government. Liberals' leader Simona Mohamsson stands firm on the party's decision not to support a government with SD ministers. The conflict escalates ahead of the next election, as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visits both parties' meetings.
At the Liberals' congress in Karlstad, the party decided on Friday to continue cooperating with the Moderates and Christian Democrats in a bourgeois government after the next election, but only collaborate with the Sweden Democrats in parliament—not in the government itself. Jimmie Åkesson, SD's leader, reacts sharply and demands cabinet posts for his party, or SD will go into opposition. 'I think it's reasonable that the party which is currently ten times smaller than ours backs down,' says Åkesson. He specifically points to justice and migration minister posts as reasonable for SD.
Simona Mohamsson emphasizes that it's up to Ulf Kristersson to resolve the conflict to form a majority government. 'It's up to the prime ministerial candidates to get a proposal through that has a majority in parliament,' she says, adding: 'It won't be easy, but I'm convinced we'll solve it.' Mohamsson gives no signals that L would yield, calling their stance 'our demands for our mandates.' In her speech, she hailed the Tidö agreement as 'liberal politics' and thanked both Kristersson and Åkesson for the cooperation so far, but stressed: 'It's important to have a bourgeois government and a bourgeois prime minister. Åkesson is not a bourgeois party.'
On Saturday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited both the Liberals' congress and SD's national days, an unusual move according to political scientist Marja Lemne. 'It can be seen as a trial balloon for how further approaches could occur,' she says. Kristersson did not comment on the conflict directly but said at the L meeting: 'It's a privilege to be prime minister in a team that likes to work together.' Åkesson doubts L's threats and regrets their decision, as it complicates support votes from M and SD.
