Internal M-Criticism: There are no political visions
On the refrigerator sits a remembered note to Hanif Bali from his wife: vacuum and pick away paper, before DN comes. The floors shine in « Baliborg », which he calls the white villa.
Another point is on the former MP Bali’s own list. He wants to take over as chairman of the municipal council in Österåker when party colleague Michaela Fletcher leaves this fall.
– I raise my hand. Because people sometimes have strong feelings about me, it is reasonable to do it well in advance, he says.
He is one of The heavier power players in the moderate phalanx. He himself says he has put the noise behind him, hoisted white flag. At the same time, as a controversial debater, he is used to resistance – and to arouse debate.
– My voice affects many and it affects the party. Having a strong opinion leader as a municipal council chairman can cause you to get through new legislation.
Hanif Bali campaigns with renovation of schools, more villas for families with children and return for criminals. And a leisure farm for EPA-borne young people.
But also with a big kick against the party leadership, where it stings the most.
– The Moderates have ended with the intellectual development. You have stopped thinking about the big lines. When we ask for slightly larger political thoughts, we get idea reports with Linked In language.
The moderates are pressed. Of the external situation, gang crime, unemployment and scandals around the two national security advisers. And of opinion.
An uncertain world situation usually causes voters to quit behind the government. But they don’t now.
Moderates and Tidösidan’s loss is confirmed in Thursday’s large Party sympathy measurement from Statistics Sweden. The party slips down to 18.3 percent – a loss of 1.5 percentage points compared to last year’s measurement and almost one percentage point less than in the election in 2022.
The gap to the opposition is at almost 13 percent. And M is only a few decimals larger than SD.
– We lose even though this should be our best time. Before the election, we need to be at 22, 23 percent and there must be a clear distance to SD, says a heavy moderate.
Hanif Bali meets voters’ dissatisfaction with the party and the government. Partly undeserved, he thinks. He himself is surprised by the delivery of the Tidö Agreement – when it comes to factual politics. But somewhere in Tidöverkstan, the Moderates have lost his sights on the big goal, says Bali.
– Despite biting every thing that people are chatting about, people move their target posts right. I think the reason is that the government fails to describe the far -reaching vision. Each point is another step to … what? The Moderates fail to convey it. It creates uncertainty in voters.
M leader Ulf Kristersson must make voters understand how he thinks, he says.
– You need to see that it is genuine, not a product from the party apparatus and a swindler photographer where I sit in hunter clothes. They want to get a sense of who you are as a person, says Bali, emphasizing every word by knocking with the knuckles in the dining table.
Is Kristersson not genuine enough?
– Yes. But he doesn’t tell you enough what and how he thinks.
That Hanif Bali kicks Upwards is no news. But he is not alone in calling for a bigger story.
MUF chairman Douglas Thor recently released the book « The Key outside the door », with several bitter pills for the party leadership. Strong issues must be supplemented with a vision for Sweden forward, he says.
– We need a story that links all the good politics that the government is implementing. Explain why our policy is needed, not just why not to vote for S. There was a story about getting Sweden organized, but we have released it. Now we are groping for a new one, he says.
Annsofie Thuresson, chairman In the moderate women, and the municipality’s strong woman in Skåne Kävlinge, emphasize that the story is there. In the Moderates’ idea program: Sweden must be made richer and safer.
But the message needs to be worn.
– We moderates are quite factual, it is often so we convey our politics. But we forget to explain why we do things. That is the story you want to understand.
The party has problems by attracting the female big city voters. There is great potential, Thuresson says. But then they have to change the tone and increase focus on climate issues, she says.
– If we are to be self -critical, we have a lesson to learn. In the urban women we have confidence to win, we must show that they can trust us.
The Moderates’ Deputy Party Secretary Martin Borgs objects to the criticism that there is no vision and a story.
– Anyone who says we lack a vision has not been at Sweden’s meeting for a long time. Or you slept or fiddled with the mobile. Or you have other interests than the ones you say you have.
The Statistics Sweden says he says more about the mood in the country right now than about party sympathies.
– Right now there is a great pessimism. It is because for many years Sweden became poorer and more dangerous, and now we are reversing the development.
When DN speaks to Representatives high up in the party are trying to play down the importance of opinion polls. It is hoped that the global economy is turning. That new laws and tools reduce blasts and shootings. That voters see an effect in their everyday lives.
The important thing is that voters have a great deal of confidence in M in the party’s profile issues such as security, legal policy and economy – and for Ulf Kristersson. But even in the latter, the M leader has problems.
According to DN/Ipso’s latest confidence measurement For the party leaders, Kristersson is located after Andersson, who tops the list for the eleventh survey in a row.
« It has never happened that the opposition leader constantly had higher confidence than the prime minister, especially not in times like these, » says an M source.
Not either the voters ranks the different features of the party leaders – As leadership or communication – Kristersson manages to beat neither Magdalena Andersson nor Jimmie Åkesson.
An obvious tactic is to turn their eyes to the opponents. In connection with the Social Democrats party congress last weekend, a number of heavy moderates, including the prime minister, have made critical plays about what they believe is a « left turn ».
The fact that the heaviest representatives spend time attacking S causes irritation internally.
– The Moderates should be the centerpiece of Swedish politics, which everyone should relate to. Now we relate to S and they become the centerpiece. It is a beta attitude, which does not make the voters feel that you are voting on the winning team, says a moderate.
Last Wednesday came Another play on the same theme. Then it was the finance minister who called for a press conference under the heading « Elisabeth Svantesson comments on the Social Democrats’ left turn ».
Svantesson is surprised by the internal criticism.
– I’m surprised. Every day I work hard for the economy to grow, to support households and to get the right direction for Sweden. I have to point out that there is an alternative that will not build growth or build Sweden strongly.
The latest Statistics Sweden measurement increases the pressure on the management to act. But as long as Ulf Kristersson governs the country, he has a strong mandate internally.
« No one will set aside a sitting prime minister, » says an M politician.
A clearer vision and strategy are expected this fall – then the party will also gather for the meeting to put the policy forward.
At home in the kitchen in Österåker, Hanif Bali has his story clear:
– A postman and a bank official should be able to buy a house in a quiet area without having to worry about their children being recruited by Kurdish fox.
DN has applied for Ulf Kristersson (M).
Read more:
Statistics Sweden: The Time Parties considerably on the reverberation
Kristersson in the disadvantage towards Åkesson
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