Ulf Kristersson rejects Sweden Democrats’ proposal for 12 ministerial posts
Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson said that the Sweden Democrats would not receive 12 ministerial posts if a government led by the Moderates is formed. The Local Sweden reports.
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson said in an interview with Radio Aftonbladet that 12–14 ministers from his party would be a reasonable starting position given the current polling results. At the same time, he noted that the party would not necessarily demand all these posts and could exchange certain portfolios for the adoption of policy decisions important to it.
Kristersson rejected this possibility, stating that negotiations on policy and ministerial posts take place after an election victory. He also called on people not to celebrate victory prematurely.
Nearly one million early votes
During the first seven days of early voting in Sweden, which began on August 26, 992,863 voters cast their ballots. This is 40% more than during the same period of the 2022 election, the Swedish Election Authority reported.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Anna Nyqvist, head of the authority’s office, said the statistics indicate a continuing trend toward an increase in the number of people voting early. The data are preliminary, as they are based on registrations in the digital electoral register. Early voting will continue through election day on September 13. In 2022, a total of 3,153,628 people voted early.
Representation of disadvantaged areas
Only 6.5% of candidates in municipal elections in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö live in areas classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged. At the same time, 13% of residents of the country’s three largest cities live in such areas.
The Left Party has the highest share of candidates from these areas at 12.4%, followed by the Social Democratic Party at 9.8% and the Sweden Democrats at 7%. The Liberal Party has the lowest figure, at 0.7%. According to Dagens Samhälle, 80 out of 100 such candidates are ranked 11th or lower on party electoral lists.
Arlanda record
Stockholm Arlanda Airport set a record for the number of international passengers for the second consecutive month. In August, international passenger traffic increased by more than 3% to 2.1 million people, exceeding the previous August record set in 2018 by approximately 16,000 passengers. Overall, the airport handled more than 2.4 million passengers, while domestic passenger traffic fell by 4% to just over 324,000 people.
