Moderate Party leadership faces internal backlash over focus on opposition ahead of election

A senior Moderate Party official has publicly criticized the party’s leadership for concentrating too heavily on attacking the opposition rather than promoting its own policies, as the governing coalition trails by 12.6 percentage points in the latest opinion poll, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports.

Carl Johan Sonesson, the Moderate Party’s regional council chair in Skåne, urged the party to shift strategy in a Facebook post Friday, arguing that warning voters about a potential left-wing government would not improve the coalition’s standing. “The national opinion figures aren’t good for us right now, and they won’t get better by scaring people with rhetoric like ‘if the left takes power, it’ll be a disaster,’” he wrote.

The criticism follows two press conferences this week where Moderate Party ministers targeted the Social Democrats, accusing them of deceiving voters. On Thursday, party officials claimed the opposition had relied on “bluffs and smokescreens” during the campaign. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson and Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer repeated the attacks Friday, warning that a left-wing government would raise taxes and burden “hardworking people.”

Svantesson dismissed Sonesson’s critique, calling him “an excellent regional politician” but defending the party’s approach. “We talk every day about—and above all, do a great deal to—improve Sweden,” she said. “But it’s also important to expose what the other side is trying to hide. The Left Party wants to hide its Islamist ties, the Social Democrats their tax hikes. There will be a completely different government if we don’t win in the autumn.”

The latest annual party sympathy survey by Statistics Sweden (SCB) shows the governing Tidö parties—Moderates, Christian Democrats, Sweden Democrats, and Liberals—lagging behind the opposition bloc by 12.6 points.