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POLITICS

Who is the new leader of Sweden’s Centre Party and why is it important?

In a press conference on Wednesday, Sweden's Centre Party announced that Muharrem Demirok, MP and former deputy mayor of Linköping, will take over from leader Annie Lööf following a party conference vote in February.

Published: 11 January 2023 11:33 CET
Who is the new leader of Sweden's Centre Party and why is it important?
Muharrem Demirok sitting by a sign reading "our new party leader" at a debate for party leader candidates in November. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

Who is Muharrem Demirok?

Demirok was born in 1976 in Stockholm and grew up in Vårby Gård in Huddinge, southeast Stockholm. He now lives in Linköping, a city in southern Sweden roughly halfway between Stockholm and Gothenburg, with his wife, his three children and his dog, Allan. He has a political science degree from Linköping University.

He was elected to the Swedish parliament in the 2022 election. Prior to this, he was deputy mayor of Linköping.

Demirok joined the Centre Party in 2002, and has stated that “an important reason for this was the Centre Party’s policy for rural areas and for the whole of Sweden”.

He describes himself as a lover of nature, especially forests, citing this as one reason behind his interest for the environment. He has also said that his Turkish family were farmers who taught him that “those who use the earth also respect it”.

His party leader candidacy has not been without controversy.

In December 2022 he admitted of his own accord that he had been convicted of assault on two occasions. The first occurred at the age of 17 in 1994 when he got into a fight with another student at school, and the other in 1999 at a student party in Linköping. On the first occasion he was ordered to pay a fine, and on the second occasion he was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service.

Why is the new Centre Party leader important?

“It matters because in a sense the Centre Party holds the balance of power,” The Local’s James Savage explained in our Sweden in Focus podcast discussing the potential leadership candidates.

LISTEN: The Local’s panelists chat about the Centre Party leadership contest in the Sweden in Focus podcast:

Listen & Follow: Apple | Spotify | Google

If, for example, the Centre Party chose to side with the centre-right government instead of the Social Democrats, that would give the government a stronger mandate and greater flexibility.

“Conversely, if the Social Democrats were to lose the support of the Centre Party, then that would make it much harder for [the Social Democrats] to form a government in the immediate or medium term,” he explained.

Having said that, neither Demirok nor any of the other candidates have said anything to suggest that they will make any changes to the party’s orientation.

When will he take over from Annie Lööf?

Demirok is not formally leader yet, rather Wednesday’s announcement just means that he has been chosen as the favoured candidate of the party’s election committee.

He will be formally voted in as party leader at a conference on February 2nd. In theory party members could vote for someone else, but in practice it is always the candidate suggested by the election committee who wins.

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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