Can anyone beat the favourite to lead Sweden's Liberal Party?
The deadline to nominate the leader of Sweden's Liberal Party has passed with Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari far out in front. But as the choices made by the party's three top districts remain secret, there's still a chance of a surprise.
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The Liberal Party will vote for its new leader on June 24th, bang in the middle of the Almedalen political festival, the most important annual event of Swedish political life.
The chosen candidate will be announced by the party's selection committee about a week ahead of the vote, giving them a chance to give interviews and sell themselves to party members.
When nominations closed on Monday night, Pourmokhtari's candidacy had won the public backing of the Liberal Party's youth wing LUF, the party's student organisation, and seven party districts – Västerbotten, Kronoberg, Jämtland, Skaraborg, Södermanland, and Dalarna.
Her main rival, Schools Minister Lotta Edholm, had received the backing of just one district, Västmanland.
Cecilia Malmström, the former European Commissioner for Trade, who is no longer even a party member let alone standing for leader, was nominated by Karlskrona.
The three biggest districts, Stockholm, Skåne and Western Sweden, have said, however, that they will not reveal their preferred candidate until the day of the vote. As they hold nearly 60 percent of the votes, that means the race could be far from over. Örebro district is also holding back.
Lars Persson Skandevall, chair of the selection committee, told the TT newswire that several candidates have been nominated who have not featured much, if at all, in the media speculation.
So who are the candidates and do any of them have a chance of ousting Pourmokhtari?
Romina Pourmokhtari. Photo: Lars Schröder/TT
Romina Pourmokhtari.
When she was made climate minister back in 2022, Pourmokhtari was Sweden's youngest ever minister. But if she wins the race to lead the liberals, she'll be far from the youngest-ever party leader, even at age 29. The Christian Democrats' Ebba Busch, Centre Party's Annie Lööf and Green Party's Gustav Fridolin, were all 28 when they took over their respective parties. Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, was only 26.
The party districts backing Pourmokhtari say she is a skillful debater who will help the party attract new, younger members.
But she also has a fair amount of baggage. Sweden has reported rising emissions under her tenure as climate minister and she has had to defend a set of policies that has been heavily criticised by the OECD and by the government's own climate policy watchdog.
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She also flipped from one of the most vociferous opponents of cooperating with the far-right Sweden Democrats as chair of the party's youth group to serving as a minister in a government supported by them.
Pourmokhtari grew up in Sundbyberg, a Stockholm suburb, as the child of political refugees from Iran. The family moved to a more central part of Stockholm in time for Pourmokhtari to go upper secondary school.
She studied at Uppsala University and won a place in the Stureakademin, the programme through which Sweden's right-wing think tank Timbro identifies and develops future leaders. As part of the programme, she travelled to Washington DC, where she met Republican politicians and lobbyists and visited think tanks.
Lotta Edholm. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
Lotta Edholm
If she wins the race, 60-year-old Edholm will be the second Liberal leader in her family. Her ex-husband and father of her son, Lars Leijonborg, led the party (then called Folkpartiet) between 1997 and 2007 and was nicknamed Leijonkungen, or "the Lion King", by the Swedish newspapers after the party got 13.3 percent of the vote in 2002. They divorced in 2004.
Edholm spent more than 20 years in Stockholm city politics, appointed as the city councillor in charge of schools between 2006 and 2014, and then again between 2018 and 2020.
She arguably has an easier record in government than Pourmokhtari, with her drive as schools minister to reduce the use of screens generally positively received by the public.
Fredrik Malm. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT
Fredrik Malm
Malm acquitted himself fairly well when he was called in to replace outgoing party leader Johan Pehrson in a party leader debate at the end of April, and some saw it as a sign that he was a possible successor.
He has been a key figure in the party since he was appointed its foreign policy spokesperson in 2010. Like Edholm, he was formerly part of a Liberal Party power couple. He has two sons with his ex-wife Gulan Avci, who serves as the party's defence spokesperson.
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Malm is very much a foreign policy specialist who has twice served as the party's foreign policy spokesperson and has historically strongly supported Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russia. He has long campaigned for the rights of Kurds and other Turkish minorities, as well as criticising Islamic extremism and fighting anti-Semitism.
His great-grandfather Einar Kruse was the treasurer for the Swedish Communist Party.
Mats Persson. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
Mats Persson
Persson, currently Sweden's employment and integration minister, is the most right-wing candidate, a strong proponent of cooperation with the Sweden Democrats. Persson was so opposed to working with the Social Democrats that he stood down as the party's economics spokesperson when it signed up the so-called January Agreement that allowed the Social Democrats to form a government in 2019.
He was deputy chair of the Liberal Party's youth wing between 2004 and 2006. He did his PhD at Lund University on sick leave and early retirement among immigrants in Sweden.
Of the current ministers, Persson is least likely to win the leadership, however, as he is not seen as having made much impact either in his two years as education minister or in his current role.
Cecilia Malmström. Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT
Cecilia Malmström
Malmström, who was nominated to be leader by the party district in Karlskrona, has long been the dream leader for the more socially conscious wing of the party.
She has, however, repeatedly refused the role, starting in 2007, when Leijonborg stood down, and in 2023 announced that she had decided not to renew her membership of the party due to her opposition to the decision to be part of a government dependent on the Sweden Democrats.
"We do not see it as a barrier that she is no longer a Liberal Party member, but more a possibility," the Karlskrona district wrote. "We share her values and therefore want to invite her to return to the party and lead it into the future with strength, intelligence and renewed self-confidence."
Cecilia Rönn. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
Cecilia Rönn
Cecilia Rönn, the Liberal Party's economic spokesperson, was the first to throw her hat into the race when Johan Pehrson announced that he was standing down at the end of April. "I am available for whatever assignments that the party wishes," she told Dagens Nyheter. "But I am completely convinced that there are many talented people around the country who can take on that role."
Karin Karlsbro. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT
Karin Karlsbro
Karin Karlsbro, the party's only MEP, is one of the leading critics within the party of the decision to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats. She wrote an article on possible futures for the Liberal Party, which some have interpreted as an expression of interest in a leadership role.
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She has been ranked as Sweden's most active MEP by the Europaportalen website, among other things serving as the European Parliament's chief negotiator on financial support to Ukraine. But her profile remains low at home in Sweden, although she got more coverage during last year's EU election.
She chaired the party's youth group between 1995 and 1997 and was chief of staff to Sweden's minister for integration, Nyamko Sabuni, during the first Alliance government between 2006 and 2010.
Jan Jönsson. Photo: Carolina Byrmo/TT
Jan Jönsson
Jönsson, who leads the party in Stockholm, would be a wild card choice. Jönsson has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of its accommodation with the Sweden Democrats and also openly questioned the new "vision" for the party passed at its congress in March.
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A geeky former teacher with a taste for extravagant floral shirts, Jönsson has made his mark with attention-grabbing campaigns centred on his own person, such as dressing up in drag and reading to children, or describing himself in posters – tongue firmly in cheek – as "the gangs' worst enemy".
There are as yet no signs, however, that he is willing to trade his well-established position in Stockholm for the leadership.
Simona Mohamsson. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
Simona Mohamsson
Simona Mohamsson, who is only a year older than Poumokhtari, has been rising very fast within the party and is seen as a possible candidate. As recently as December, she was a municipal politician in Hisingen, Gothenburg. She was appointed party secretary in April, and now may be willing to take a shot at the leadership.
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So do any of them have a chance?
It depends on whether the three biggest districts, Stockholm, Skåne and Western Sweden, trust Pourmokhtari not to join or back a government that includes ministers from the Sweden Democrats.
As Karlskrona's decision to nominate Malmström indicates, there are still pockets of the party heavily opposed to cooperation with the far right. There is a slim chance that enough of them will unite around a figure like Karlsbro or Jönsson to mount a challenge. But it looks pretty unlikely.
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