Published: Just now
The Left Party failed in its strategy to reach SD voters in the countryside and made a disastrous election.
That’s what Jens Holm, outgoing Member of Parliament for the party, says.
– It is largely a self-inflicted failure, he says to Aftonbladet.
The final election results will be available on Wednesday. But already during election night, the preliminary results came and put a damper on the Left Party’s election vigil at Norra Latin in central Stockholm.
There, the party backs down from 8 percent in 2018 to 6.6 in this year’s election.
Something that can only be described as a failure, according to Jens Holm, defected climate policy spokesperson for V.
– We are backtracking to a result well below the last election. This is a disaster result. Both for the Left Party and the red-green bloc as a whole, he says.
“Scare away core voters”
He believes that the loss cannot be explained by support votes for the MP to save the party in the Riksdag. It is largely self-inflicted. The party leadership’s strategy, to take SD voters in working towns in the countryside, has not worked at all.
– We have lost in Hofors, Sandviken, Lilla Edet and Falun. I can’t see a single place of use in which we are progressing.
Jens Holm believes that the new direction has scared away the party’s progressive core voters. He believes that both redistribution policy and climate policy have been played down. That the Left Party made up to the right on a temporary reduction in petrol and diesel tax was the nail in the coffin for the party’s credibility, according to Holm.
– We have been a party that was ranked best by environmental organizations for our climate policy to only talk about industry, many core voters have not recognized their party, he says.
Holm: Nightmare scenario
He also comes down hard on the party leadership’s decision to downplay behavioral changes as part of the transition. Like the directive to party members not to talk about reduced carnivores, charter trips driving with voters.
– That is just vulgar communication. We’ve never said you can’t fly or eat meat. On the other hand, we have proposals for flight tax and subsidizing train travel and we have said that we will have an action plan to reduce meat eating, says Holm.
During the term of office, the Left Party has at times been up to double-digit voter support, with a peak of 11.5 percent after the party rejected Löfven on the proposal for market rents. Those numbers are deleted.
Jens Holm came out openly with his criticism earlier this year.
– This was my nightmare scenario and we warned that this would happen.
What will the Left Party do now?
– Now we must have a thorough post-election debate where all voices can be heard.
Dadgostar: Very satisfied
On Sunday’s vigil, party leader Nooshi Dadgostar wanted to talk about failure when she commented on the results after her speech shortly after midnight. She said she is proud of the election campaign all the leftists did.
– I am very satisfied about the election campaign that has been conducted, she told Aftonbladet just before she went to SVT on election night.
The party leadership’s explanation for the loss is that some left-wing voters voted in support of the Green Party. Nooshi Dadgostar also believes that the issues that were the focus of the election campaign benefited the right-wing side.
– It has not been like any other election campaign I have been part of. It has been about SD, divisive politics and people’s skin color instead of welfare, school, care and how we fight unemployment and build housing.
You have had an ambition to broaden the party and reach SD voters in the countryside. Have you succeeded in that?
– That has not been the goal. It has been to change Sweden. We are proud that we managed to stop market rents even though we were not on the board. We have got health insurance on the agenda and improved it, we are also happy that we got the pensions up. The focus has been to improve for the Swedes and we have done that.