(Adnkronos) – “Make Sweden great again”. This is the goal of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who hopes to win a second term for his center-right coalition. A clear reference to the slogan of US President Donald Trump, Kristersson, in an interview with AFP ahead of the parliamentary elections on September 13 for the renewal of the Riksdag, said that for him it will be most important to “seize the moment” to improve the lives of “ordinary people”.
Since coming to power in the autumn of 2022, Sweden has gone from being known “for its shootings” to being known for “successful entrepreneurs” like the creator of Spotify, he stated on the sidelines of an election rally in Stockholm. “We were once known for daily shootings and murders. Now we are known for our highly successful entrepreneurs, for the tech industry, for the booming defense industry, and for financial markets,” he said. Kristersson came to power by striking an unprecedented deal with the Sweden Democrats, granting them policy influence in exchange for parliamentary support, but without bringing them into government. This time, however, he has promised government positions to the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party once considered a political pariah.
“Everyone can see that we have collaborated successfully over the past four years. And we are the same four partners who are now jointly seeking a mandate to continue this collaboration in the coming years,” Kristersson stated. Furthermore, he added, “ministerial positions were not negotiated before the election results.”
While admitting some differences on certain aspects of foreign policy, Kristersson emphasized that on “major issues” such as Russia, support for Ukraine, and Sweden’s NATO membership, “we are very similar.” Opinion polls in Sweden had shown a clear lead for the opposition left-wing bloc for months ahead of Sunday’s general election, although this margin has considerably narrowed in the final days of the election campaign.
