STOCKHOLM – The head of Sweden’s main centre-left opposition party, the Social Democrats, resigned yesterday, two months after a disastrous election result confirmed a swing to the right in the country.
Mona Sahlin’s resignation paves the way for a power struggle within the party, which once dominated Swedish politics, in what domestic media have called the worst crisis it has known.
The Social Democrats created the so-called Swedish model of cradle-to-grave welfare. But a renewed centre-right appealed to many voters and has won two elections in a row, the last in September, by cutting taxes while preserving what it sees as the best of the welfare state.
“A new leadership must have strong confidence and a clear mandate to change. To make this easier I have today made the decision to resign,” Ms Sahlin said after a meeting of party leaders.
“The Social Democrats have lost touch with the times and with the voters. The voters rejected our message and our politics,” she said.
Ms Sahlin will continue to lead the party until an extraordinary congress early next year.
No clear front-runner has emerged to replace her and there is likely to be a battle between the left and right wings of the party to find a way to win voters back from the centre-right.
The Social Democrats used to be the powerhouse of Swedish politics. Ms Sahlin has come in for strong criticism since the poor election result in September.
Her critics hope a change of leadership will revive the party’s popularity and make it electable again. Ms Sahlin has led the Social Democrats since 2007.
Her popularity ratings before the election were below those of Fredrik Reinfeldt, who was re-elected as head of a four-party coalition which lost its majority over the first appearance in parliament of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats.