Liberal Party faces decisive vote on leader and Sweden Democrats stance

Sweden’s Liberal Party will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to decide whether Simona Mohamsson will remain party leader, a vote that effectively determines whether the party upholds its decision to abandon its long-standing refusal to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats (SD), Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports.

The special party conference, called at short notice, has only one item on the agenda: confirming Mohamsson’s leadership. The party’s nomination committee has not proposed an alternative candidate, and political analysts say a serious challenge to her position is unlikely to emerge.

“Uncertainty is always best avoided in this small party, and by all indications, there will be no credible alternative candidate with a real chance of defeating Mohamsson,” said Elisabeth Marmorstein, SVT’s domestic politics commentator.

The meeting follows a week of turmoil after Mohamsson announced a dramatic policy reversal, agreeing to accept SD ministers in a future government in exchange for Liberal Party priorities such as state-run schools and a referendum on adopting the euro. The shift has sparked fierce internal divisions, with some members demanding the party board’s resignation and others threatening to leave.

All four of the party’s current government ministers have warned they will resign if Mohamsson is not re-elected. Several potential challengers, including economic policy spokesperson Cecilia Rönn and former EU commissioner Cecilia Malmström, have declined to stand.

Marmorstein described the vote as “a final, decisive battle over the Sweden Democrats,” adding that the leadership expects dissenters to leave if they cannot accept the new direction. “The hope is that this will finally tear off the SD plaster—both to attract tactical voters and to shift focus back to policy issues,” she said.

However, the party’s anti-SD faction continues to view opposition to SD ministers as a defining principle. Several MPs have already announced they will not seek re-election in the autumn.