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Borg best in popularity stakes

Swedish finance minister Anders Borg is ranked highly by his party colleagues while defence minister Sten Tolgfors and trade minister Ewa Björling scored low in the popularity stakes among their peers.

Published: 30 December 2008 14:55 CET

The finance minister claimed the backing of 71 percent of the Alliance coalition when politicians were given the chance to rate the performance of their political seniors. Only 3 percent meanwhile approved of the defence minister’s efforts.

Tolgfors is second from bottom among government ministers. Only trade minister Ewa Björling scores less, with a lowly two percent approval rating.

The figures were presented by Sveriges Radio and have been collected from a survey of 1,119 leading local government politicians in the four Alliance parties. 66 percent of the surveys sent were returned and the replies were equally divided across the coalition parties.

One of the questions addressed whether the respondent felt that any of the current ministers should leave the government. There were no votes for a new prime minister and only 1 percent of replies called for a change in finance minister.

But more than 20 percent opined that Sten Tolgfors should be replaced and almost as many would like to see the back of former Liberal Party leader Lars Leijonborg. Local councillor Bengt Sylvan in Stockholm suburb Danderyd is one of those who would like to see Tolgfors replaced.

“He is incredibly weak as defence minister and he is also a conscientious objector,” Sylvan said to Ekot.

The defence minister was unwilling to comment on his popularity ranking. Tolgfors it seems is at least able to draw on support from his home base of Örebro.

“This is not fair. Sten Tolgfors is doing a good job and carries out the ambitions set out by the Alliance at the last election – to keep the departments managed and running smoothly,” said party ombudsman Jan Zetterström.

Zetterstöm is confident that Tolgfors can feel secure and that he will be renominated for his parliamentary seat.

“The members know the job that he has done and the work he is doing now.”

Sten Tolgfors replaced Mikael Oldenberg as defence minister in September 2007. Oldenberg left the government in protest over cuts in the defence budget. Oldenberg is considered to have done a particularly good job by 21 percent of the local politicians surveyed.

The four party leaders are all among the top six in the rankings table. Aside from Anders Borg they are joined by foreign minister Carl Bildt who claims fourth place, ahead of Centre Party leader Maud Olofsson and health and social affairs minister Göran Hägglund.

For members

CRIME

EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

Several masked men, described by anti-racism magazine Expo as "a group of Nazis" carried out the attack at an event organised by the Left Party and Green Party. Here's what we know so far.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:35 CEST
EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

What happened?

Several masked men burst into a Stockholm theatre on Wednesday night and set off smoke bombs during an anti-fascism event, according to police and participants.

Around 50 people were taking part in the event at the Moment theatre in Gubbängen, a southern suburb of the Swedish capital, organised by the Left Party and the Green Party.

“Three people were taken by ambulance to hospital,” the police said on its website, shortly after the attack.

According to Swedish media, one person was physically assaulted and two had paint sprayed in their faces.

“The Nazis attacked visitors using physical violence, with pepper spray, and vandalised the venue before throwing in some kind of smoke grenade which filled the foyer with smoke,” Expo wrote on its website. 

The magazine’s head of education Klara Ljungberg was at the event in order to hold a lecture at the invitation of the two political parties.

What was the meeting about?

According to the Left Party’s press officer, the event was “a meeting about growing fascism”. 

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar described the event to public broadcaster SVT as an “open event, for equality among individuals”.

As well as Ljungberg from Expo, panelists at the event included anti-fascist activist Mathias Wåg, who also writes for Swedish centre-left tabloid Aftonbladet.

“They were determined and went straight for me,” Wåg told Expo just after the attack. “I received a few blows but nothing that caused serious damage.”

“I was invited to be on a panel in order to discuss anti-fascism with representatives from the Left Party and the Green Party,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, but there’s obviously a risk when Expo and I are in the same place.”

What has the reaction been like?

All of Sweden’s parties across the political spectrum have denounced the attack, with Dadgostar describing it as a “threat to our democracy” when TT newswire interviewed her at the theatre a few hours after the attack occurred.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative Moderates, called the attack “abhorrent”.

The Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals are currently in government with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, while the Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party are in opposition.

“It is appalling news that a meeting hosted by the Left Party has been stormed,” Kristersson told TT. “I have reached out to Nooshi Dadgostar and expressed my deepest support. This type of abhorrent action has no place in our free and open society.”

“Right-wing extremists want to scare us into silence,” Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson wrote on X. “They will never be allowed to succeed.”

“The attack by right-wing extremists at a political meeting is a direct attack on our democracy and freedom of speech,” Green Party co-leader Daniel Helldén wrote on X. “My thoughts are with those who were affected this evening.”

Sweden Democrat party leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote in an email to TT that “political violence is terrible, in all its forms, and does not belong in Sweden.”

“All democratic forces must stand in complete solidarity against all kinds of politically motivated violence,” he continued.

His party has previously admitted to being founded by people from “fascist movement” New Swedish Movement, skinheads, and people with “various types of neo-Nazi contact”.

“It is an attack not only on the Left Party, Green Party and the Expo Foundation, but also on our entire democratic society,” Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, who referred to the attackers as “Nazis”, wrote on social media. “Those affected have all my support.”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch and Liberal leader Johan Pehrson both referred to the attackers as “anti-democratic forces”.

“It is never acceptable for a political meeting to be stormed by anti-democratic forces,” Busch wrote. “There is no place for this in our society.”

“Anti-democratic forces like this represent a serious threat to our democracy and must be met with society’s hardest iron fist,” Pehrson said.

What about the attackers? Has anyone been arrested?

Not yet. The police had not made any arrests at the time of writing on Thursday morning.

According to TT, police did not want to comment on who could be behind the attack.

It is currently being investigated as a violation of the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act, assault, causing danger to others and disturbing public order.

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