Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist was elected as the Center Party's new leader on Thursday afternoon in Karlstad. She expressed willingness to cooperate with both Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson, but firmly rules out any ties with the Sweden Democrats. In an ideal scenario, she dreams of an alliance government.
On Thursday afternoon in Karlstad, Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, 53, was elected as the Center Party's new leader amid standing ovations from party members. Her installation speech turned emotional; she couldn't look at her former boss Maud Olofsson, who was crying with joy in the audience, and Thand Ringqvist herself had to swallow hard to hold back tears. Previous leaders like Anna-Karin Hatt and Olofsson sat in the front row.
Thand Ringqvist is a party veteran with roots in Jämtland and a seat in parliament for Stockholm. She worked as a political advisor to Maud Olofsson, served as CEO of Företagarna, and chaired Centerstudenter. The party hopes her leadership will advance issues on climate, growth, and optimism for the future.
On government formation, she avoids specifying an exact constellation but emphasizes issue-based politics over bloc politics. The Center Party flatly rejects cooperation with the Sweden Democrats and Jimmie Åkesson. She is open to negotiations with Magdalena Andersson's Social Democrats, citing past collaborations that sanitized the economy, strengthened welfare, and lowered taxes. For Ulf Kristersson's Moderates, however, they must end their reliance on the SD: 'If the Center Party and Moderates are to cooperate again, Ulf Kristersson needs to drop his dependence on the Sweden Democrats.'
In a free wishful scenario, she points to the alliance government of M, KD, L, and C under Fredrik Reinfeldt: 'If I could wish freely, it would of course be an alliance government. We cooperated well then.' She believes such a government could become reality again someday. First, she wants to meet Andersson and Kristersson out in the real world to discuss jobs and emissions.