Published: Less than 10 min ago
Annie Lööf’s resignation is believed to trigger a chaotic phalanx battle in the Center, according to leading representatives.
She herself says that the strategy before the election had “solid support” internally.
But several party leaders read in the newspaper that they could imagine being part of an S government, says Ekot.
After thinking for three days, Annie Lööf finally decided on Wednesday to resign as party leader of the Center Party.
At 1 pm on Thursday, she announced her decision at a press conference in the Riksdag.
An hour earlier, the party board was notified of a specially called meeting via Zoom.
– I am very proud of the impression that C has made during this decade, said Annie Lööf.
Full civil war
– I am leaving this message now so that the Center Party can have an orderly and good process for choosing a new leader.
Immediately after the press conference, information came that indicates that a chaotic time awaits in the party.
– I think we will tear each other to pieces. It will be full civil war, a leading center party told Aftonbladet on Thursday.
The party is already said to be badly divided after the election to reject cooperation with the right-wing bloc and instead stand behind a government with Magdalena Andersson as prime minister.
– Slightly simplified, you can say that there is the Kristersson line and the line we have. In both parts there are nuances but in general it is like that, said a leading centrist who describes the phalanxes.
SvD also has tasks which suggests that Annie Lööf’s announcement could trigger a storm within the Center Party.
“Compact Support”
According to the newspaper, “a source with broad transparency states that there are currently three ‘trends’ that are fighting over the description of reality and the future”.
– It will be very internally noisy and rowdy in the future, says the source to SvD.
In Aftonbladet’s article on Thursday, another centrist says that the party is still in a shock phase after the election.
He believes that a new party leader can indeed bring C on a new course, but that the party board has so far agreed with decisions that have been made – and that it is therefore not certain that it would lead to a dramatic change.
Annie Lööf herself said the following in Aktuellt on Thursday evening:
– The position and the path choices that I have put forward, they are not my opinions, but they are founded in the party. They are caught up in our meetings, our boards of trustees, and I feel that there is compact support for keeping the border with the Sweden Democrats, she said.
– The line I have run, there is compact support for it.
Didn’t know anything before the play
At the same time, it emerged on Thursday evening, just hours after Annie Lööf’s resignation, that the party leader’s statement in Dagens Nyheter on August 15 came as a shock to several leading centrists.
– We can imagine sitting in a government with the Social Democrats. But that assumes that politics leans towards the middle, was Annie Lööf’s message to DN.
– I see that Magdalena Andersson has the necessary leadership.
According to data to Sweden’s Radio Echo the announcement came unexpectedly for members of both the Riksdag group and the party board. Instead, they had to read about the party’s election strategy in the newspaper when the interview was published.
– I was asked, says a centrist, who thinks that the party should have stuck to the middle position that was agreed upon, to Echo.
Another of those interviewed anonymously by Ekot says that the new stance should have been anchored in a better way.
It is stated that after the attention-grabbing interview there was “a frustration in the party that Annie Lööf, then and there, chose a side in the government issue”.
Special meeting this winter
Several centrist parties believe that the strategy of so clearly standing behind Magdalena Andersson would have meant a worse negotiating position if the red-greens had won the election, says Echo.
But others make the same analysis as Annie Lööf and believe that it was necessary to give a clear message on the government issue.
Sometime during the winter, the Center Party will elect a new party leader during an extraordinary general meeting.
– The choice of party leader will be absolutely decisive for where the Center Party stands in the future. If you want to toughen it up, it’s a lot about the attitude towards the Sweden Democrats, but it’s also a fight between the social liberal and the liberal conservative currents where Annie has represented the social liberal stance, a leading center party told Aftonbladet on Thursday.