The Center Party’s budget announcement means a clearer step into the red bloc, two political scientists believe. But the increased clarity in turn raises new questions.
– It is very difficult to see what kind of politics they would pursue from this side, says Marja Lemne, political scientist at Södertörn University.
The Center Party will vote for the government’s spring amendment budget. This was announced by party leader Annie Lööf on Monday, after the party reached a compromise with the government on the pension proposal.
The message means that the Center Party is now more clearly included in the red bloc together with S, V and MP, says political scientist Marja Lemne.
– Now C has definitely locked himself in the red block. We have two clear blocks again, although they do not look like they did before the last election, she says.
Can benefit the Liberals
Tommy Möller, professor of political science at Stockholm University, makes the same analysis.
– But in practice, it really does not make much difference. It has been obvious that C supports S. Maybe they can even imagine a government collaboration, it remains to be seen, he says.
It is an adaptation to the Center Party’s new voter base, says Tommy Möller.
– More and more center-right sympathizers define themselves as left rather than right, so in that way there is a logic in this action. In general, parties that get new voters adapt their policies to the new groups, with the result that the old core voters can feel a kind of insecurity, he says.
This in turn could mean that liberal, center-right voters who want a bourgeois government instead turn to L when it’s time to go to the polls, the two political scientists believe.
– It is a chance you take, says Marja Lemne.
Big differences
But the increased clarity also raises new questions. Not least if and how the Center Party will be able to cooperate with the Left Party in a basis for a possible Social Democratic government after the election.
– It will be even more difficult for the Center Party when they are now more clearly included in this collaboration, says Tommy Möller.
The differences in politics are great, states Marja Lemne.
– It is difficult to see what the policy will be, and we have still not heard Annie Lööf speak clearly about how she views cooperation with V. For voters, it is still a bit unclear what that side stands for, she says and continues :
– There is a need for clarification of where the Center stands. The party has had a declining tendency in opinion polls, the question is whether this is the way back or not.