{"id":182362,"date":"2026-11-10T08:13:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T07:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/?p=182362"},"modified":"2026-11-14T22:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T21:40:28","slug":"bodstroms-s-avslojande-s-och-m-sa-lika-att-de-kan-regera-ihop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/bodstroms-party-and-the-social-democrats-agreed-that-they-could-govern-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodstr\u00f6m (S) Reveals: The Social Democrats and the Moderates Are So Similar That They Could Govern Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>To voters, the Social Democrats and the Moderates appear to be bitter rivals. But behind the political power struggle, there are significant similarities, according to former Social Democratic Minister Thomas Bodstr\u00f6m. He is now proposing that the parties form a government together\u2014and share the position of prime minister.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former Social Democratic Minister of Justice <strong>Thomas Bodstr\u00f6m<\/strong> in practice, calls into question the traditional division into political blocs in Swedish politics. In an interview with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressen.se\/nyheter\/politik\/bodstrom-s-och-m-kan-dela-pa-statsministerposten\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Express <\/a><\/strong>He proposes that the Social Democrats (S) and the Moderates (M) form a coalition government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Behind the Power Struggle\u2014A Political Circus<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite years of both parties emphasizing their differences, Bodstr\u00f6m believes that Sweden\u2019s two largest parties have enough in common to govern the country together. He argues that they share a common view on political stability and that this outweighs the heightened rhetoric during election campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013 <em>These are the major political parties that believe in stability.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bodstr\u00f6m is likely hoping that the Social Democrats will be given a chance to take power now that their planned red-green coalition is falling apart. What he says, however, reveals much more about Swedish politics: the differences between the parties\u2014especially the two largest in the Riksdag\u2014are, in practice, merely a facade. In reality, the same policies and the same fundamental views prevail, regardless of who is in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The position of prime minister can be shared<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-1024x513.jpg\" alt=\"Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson in a previous party leader debate on SVT. Screenshot: SVT\" class=\"wp-image-169192 lazyload\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.996209728363866;width:437px;height:auto\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"513\" src=\"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-1024x513.jpg\" alt=\"Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson in a previous party leader debate on SVT. Screenshot: SVT\" class=\"wp-image-169192\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.996209728363866;width:437px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-1024x513.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-768x385.jpg 768w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-18x9.jpg 18w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-150x75.jpg 150w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-696x349.jpg 696w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-1068x535.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe-600x300.jpg 600w, https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Magda-och-Uffe.jpg 1236w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson in a previous party leader debate on SVT. Is the heated tone just a political circus? Screenshot: SVT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bodstr\u00f6m goes beyond simply proposing a collaboration. He wants to <strong>Magdalena Andersson<\/strong> (S) and <strong>Ulf Kristersson<\/strong> (M) shares the position of prime minister and leads the country for two years at a time. However, M and S do not have a majority on their own, as S received 28.01 percent and M received 19.85 percent, for a combined total of 47.86 percent. To ensure they secure more than 50 percent, they will each need to bring a small party on board, according to Bodstr\u00f6m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013 <em>They can each serve two years, with their own party.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also compares the relationship between the Social Democrats and the Moderates to the rivalry between two soccer clubs. According to Bodstr\u00f6m, opposition to the collaboration may be greater among the parties\u2019 supporters than among the politicians themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013 <em>It's as if AIK and Djurg\u00e5rden were to merge. The players would be able to handle it, but the fans might not.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conflict Among Voters\u2014Cooperation Among Politicians?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is remarkable about Bodstr\u00f6m\u2019s proposal is not that he suggests a power-sharing arrangement between the Moderates and the Social Democrats, but that he reveals there is no genuine difference between the parties. This has long been pointed out by critics of the system, who argue that neither party is interested in changing Sweden for the better, but rather in securing their well-paid positions in the Riksdag and in any future governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, Bodstr\u00f6m believes that the Social Democrats could lose in a snap election. He therefore believes that the government crisis offers a rare opportunity to test cooperation between the two largest parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013 <em>I think this is the best opportunity in decades to try an S-M coalition government.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Social Democrats and the Moderates are political rivals\u2014but are they really that different? Now, Social Democrat veteran Bodstr\u00f6m wants to unite the parties and share power<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":180506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,1520,205],"tags":[160,157,6882],"class_list":["post-182362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-inrikes","category-stor","category-nyheter","tag-moderaterna","tag-socialdemokraterna","tag-thomas-bodstrom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182670,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182362\/revisions\/182670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}