Sometimes the Center Party is described somewhat contemptuously as the party that gets through all its problems. The Center has a strong culture of consensus and the belief that a good compromise can be found over coffee and buns is strong in the party. But right now, Muharrem Demirok is guilty of the centrist mortal sin: drinking too little and too badly.
Namely, the Center is trying to swindle the Liberals’ voters by profiling itself in the school issue. Demirok wants to see a tougher crackdown on independent schools, by, among other things, reforming school fees and limiting profit withdrawals. And yesterday there was a proposal to shorten the summer vacation by two weeks.
The party leadership likes the strategy and sees a scenario where Demirok can become the big winner of the next election. The Liberals have catastrophic figures in the opinion polls and risk ending up under the Riksdag blockade. In the dreams of the Centre’s party office, the old peasant party can then pick up a large part of the liberal voters as “the new school party”
But among the grassroots, the delight is more limited. Many of the center’s representatives are not really used to being a school party. But above all, many centrists think that the party leadership runs with them. The plays about the school are not anchored. At the end of September-October, the party has a meeting in Örebro, and then there will be coffee in true center-party fashion. And Demirok’s proposal on, for example, school policy must be discussed. Now many think that the party leader skipped the obligatory cup of coffee with the party:
“For me, the summer vacation proposal was the last straw. It will go down badly with farmers and small business owners who like the long summer vacation. Now we appear more and more like a party that has forgotten our core voters,” says a tone-setting centre-party.
Behind the criticism are also the poor opinion figures. Should Demirok’s school strategy turn out to be successful in the long run, much will probably be forgiven within the party. But so far, Muharrem Demirok’s flirtation with big-city academics has not brought any new voters. This causes the concern to grow. And when the party leader starts launching new policies without waiting for the coffee and buns at the meeting, then many centrists see red. Ignore the coffee – you don’t do that with impunity in the Center Party.