Centre Party Leader’s Message: Chooses Red-Green Side

That the Centre Party has belonged to the red-green bloc since the days of Annie Lööf has been no secret, even if there has been some outward attempt to suggest a kind of ambivalence. Now, with just three months to the election, Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist is making it clear once and for all that they stand on the left side.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Centre Party delivered their announcement.

– Ulf Kristersson has disqualified himself as a candidate for prime minister, said party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, referring to Kristersson’s desire to continue to collaborate and form a government with the Sweden Democrats.

According to the Centre Party leader, the Tidö government also has “failures on many issues”.

– That’s why Magdalena Andersson and the Social Democrats are the most likely cooperation partners for us in the Centre Party.

At the same time, Thand Ringqvist made it clear that the party’s support won’t come free. Their demands include reduced emissions, more jobs, lower taxes, and investments in the countryside.

In an opinion piece, Thand Ringqvist writes that people can trust the Centre Party:

There are voters who wonder why the Centre Party does not choose the same path as the Liberals did and accept the Sweden Democrats’ influence in order to form a centre-right government coalition. Our answer is the same today as it has been for the past ten years: you should be able to trust the Centre Party. We will not say one thing before the election and do another afterwards. When we say that we will not participate in a government where the SD or the Left Party have decisive influence, we mean it.

Responsibility for Sweden

The Social Democrats are celebrating the announcement.

“I welcome that the Centre Party is prepared to take responsibility for Sweden at a time when we need a government with the capacity to tackle the major challenges facing society,” wrote the Social Democrats’ party secretary Tobias Baudin in a written statement to SVT.