With all electoral districts in Dalarna County counted, Somali Left Party member Mohamed Abdukardir Ali snatches the parliamentary seat from Kajsa Fredholm, the party’s spokesperson on climate policy. Ali received 648 personal votes, compared to Fredholm’s 347.
The personal voting in the Dalarna parliamentary election took a clear turn on Friday. The established Left Party member and top party figure Kajsa Fredholm, who had served in parliament during the previous term, was overtaken by the little-known Mohamed Abdukardir Ali.
With the large number of personal votes, he has surpassed the decisive five percent threshold, thus going from ninth place on the party list to the top position.
However, this pattern is not new. In 2019, Leila Ali-Elmi (Green Party) secured her parliamentary seat following a personal election campaign largely targeting Somali voters. During the campaign, she posted on Facebook an image with the Green Party’s logo and the text:
”Allah weyn iyo Soomali weyn. Ayaan talada saartay: II CODEEYA” — translated as “Allah is great and Somalis are great. My suggestion to you: VOTE FOR ME”.
This same type of mobilization among Somali voters in Sweden now seems to be paying off in Dalarna as well. Ali, who lives in Borlänge, has built support through his personal campaign and is clearly ahead of Fredholm, who currently has 318 personal votes.