Sweden gets gutsy Social Democrat

The Swedish Social Democrats on Thursday nominated the unionist Stefan Löfven as chairman of the party. The fourth party leader in five years, he will have the task of leading the Swedish Social Democratic party out of its current crisis. Löfven will succeed Håkan Juholt, who resigned on Sunday after only ten months in office. The liberal daily Dagens Nyheter says this could make the opposition party stronger: "His plus is his personality: he is exactly what Håkan Juholt never was. Löfven has shown himself to be reflective, clever, cultured, pragmatic and good-natured. ... But - hugely important for a politician - he has also survived crises and shown he's got what it takes. ... In Löfven Sweden finally has the leader of the opposition it needs. And it's about time. No one benefits from the [governing] moderates having switched roles with the Social Democrats as the permanent ruling party."

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