How to calm hostilities in Swedish politics?
The political polarisation in Sweden is intensifying. The leader of the Centre Party, Anna-Karin Hatt, announced her resignation on Wednesday citing hatred and hostility. The Swedish press takes a closer look.
Zero tolerance for troublemakers
Dagens Nyheter takes Sweden's political caste to task:
“From now on, the politicians must adopt a softer tone with each other and the debate must be more objective. ... Party representatives who stir up the climate of debate or repeatedly overstep verbal boundaries - sometimes claiming they're just 'joking' - should not only be called out by their political opponents. They must also be reprimanded within their own ranks. In addition, troll factories should be banned. And parties that don't do everything in their power to take responsibility for their own people, their followers and party-affiliated channels should not even be considered as co-operation partners.”
Stop the tribalism
Politics can be harsh, but it shouldn't turn into a football stadium riot, Göteborgs-Posten admonishes:
“Politics is about power, and harsh criticism and strong emotions are an inevitable part of it. Not everyone has the same ability to express themselves academically. It is therefore unfortunate that 'hatred and threats' are often thoughtlessly lumped together. Nevertheless, we all have a responsibility to counteract the tendency of politics to promote simplistic tribal thinking. When politics turns into a football match, with more or less aggressive fan clubs, the conflict itself - rather than the solution to social problems - quickly becomes the main issue. Then both 'teams' start looking for their opponents' worst arguments and confuse factual issues with personal ones.”
Nothing being done to tackle the problem!
Aftonbladet points to the causes of the radicalisation in right-wing extremist circles:
“In its status report for 2025, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) warns of the rise of right-wing extremism in Sweden. It sees this as a cause of heightened polarisation and an exacerbated threat level - and thus of an increase in violent extremism in the country. ... And nothing is being done about it. In April of last year, an anti-fascist meeting in Stockholm's Gubbängen district was attacked by right-wing extremists. A few weeks later, TV4 revealed that the Sweden Democrats were running troll factories that specifically targeted political opponents. And what did [Conservative Prime Minister] Ulf Kristersson do? Nothing. Exactly. So why should anything change now?”