Annie Lööf returns to Sweden’s election sprint with “extra energy”

Former Centre Party leader Annie Lööf has returned to Sweden’s election campaign, saying she wants to inject “extra energy” into the final stretch and revive the idea of a broad political centre.

Lööf campaigned on Saturday with Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist at Gärdet in Stockholm, where the Tjejmilen race was taking place. “I think it feels obvious to give extra energy to the final stretch of the campaign,” Lööf said. She added that Sweden needed a healthier tone in politics and a stronger focus on cooperation at the centre.

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I think it feels obvious to give extra energy to the final stretch of the campaign.

The broad-centre idea became Lööf’s signature political line. It has gained new attention as the Centre Party seeks a middle-ground alternative involving the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, the Christian Democrats and possibly the Greens. The route remains uncertain, however, because the Centre Party says it cannot sit in government with the Left Party, which has demanded ministerial posts.

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The fact that the door is open is a strength for Sweden.

Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson has not said which governing option she prefers. She has said the Left Party has “a long way to go,” while not ruling out its participation in a government. Lööf defended Andersson’s decision to keep her options open, saying Sweden faced an uncertain world and that it was responsible for a prime ministerial candidate to say she could cooperate with every party except the Sweden Democrats. “The fact that the door is open is a strength for Sweden,” Lööf said.

Thand Ringqvist said each party was campaigning on its own policies. Asked whether Andersson should close the door to the Left Party, she said Andersson had chosen to close it in only one direction. Thand Ringqvist again declined to say whether the Centre Party could support a government that relied on the Left Party, for example through budget cooperation. “The Left Party has been super-clear that it wants to be in government, and for us it is completely impossible to sit in government with them,” she said.

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The Left Party has been super-clear that it wants to be in government, and for us it is completely impossible to sit in government with them.