Stalemate deepens in dispute between Sweden Democrats and Christian Democrats

A coffee meeting between Sweden’s Christian Democrat and Sweden Democrat leaders has failed to settle a dispute over what could happen after the election.

Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson wants Ebba Busch to explain publicly what she meant when she said she could accept a government led by the Social Democrats in an “exceptional situation”. That could apply if the parties in the Tidö coalition lost their parliamentary majority.

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It needs to be resolved before I can continue lending my and the Sweden Democrats’ credibility to the Christian Democrats. And it needs to be resolved publicly, not in a closed room between four eyes.

Åkesson wrote on X that the issue had to be resolved before he could continue lending his and the Sweden Democrats’ credibility to the Christian Democrats. He insisted that the explanation should come publicly, “not in a closed room between four eyes.”

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No, they had a cup of coffee yesterday.

The Christian Democrats had no plans for a further public clarification, saying Busch regularly speaks about working for the Tidö parties to win the election. Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson described the dispute as a “minor skirmish” and said the coffee meeting did not change the coalition’s basic unity. He added that he had no objection to the two leaders having another coffee.

Åkesson takes a different view. He said Busch’s failure to clearly reject “government invitations from the left” had unnecessarily made the Centre Party’s “imaginary middle alternative” relevant. He also argued that the issue gave Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson a way to avoid discussing the Left Party, which has demanded ministerial posts in exchange for supporting a Social Democrat-led government.

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This skirmish does not change our basic unity.

The disagreement also reflects different electoral positions. The Christian Democrats have improved on their 2022 result in opinion polls, while the Sweden Democrats have declined and risk losing their position as the largest right-wing party to the Moderates. Åkesson pointed to several policy differences between the Sweden Democrats and Christian Democrats, saying they could influence voters choosing between the two parties. He has also urged center-right voters not to waste votes supporting the Liberals if the party falls below 3.5 percent in polls ten days before the election.

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It is, as I see it, a bad strategy. Possibly good for the Christian Democrats, but bad for the team.