The last few months have been tough for Muharrem Demirok. There has been internal dissatisfaction within the party regarding his leadership, the opinion polls, and the party's stance on the government issue.
Demirok says he is aware that his leadership has been criticized.
I'm not willing to let a discussion about my party leadership stand in the way of Sweden or an electoral success in 2026, he says.
According to information from TT, a digital meeting was held with all district chairmen on Thursday. There, tough criticism was directed at Demirok, and there was talk of a lack of confidence in him, although he also received support.
For all people, there's a limit somewhere, says one of those who attended the meeting.
Criticized leadership
Karl Gemfeldt, a municipal politician in Kristianstad, is one of the few who has openly criticized Demirok. He is not surprised by the news, although he didn't know it would come now.
It's because of the opinion polls, that they're not improving. You have to be able to get people on board, says Gemfeldt.
At the party's municipal days in Linköping recently, where 600 Center Party members gathered, it was calm on the surface, but during breaks, the party leader's future was discussed.
All the talk was about how long it would last, says Gemfeldt.
After two years as party leader, Demirok has still not managed to improve the party's opinion polls or his own confidence ratings.
Always at the bottom
In Novus' confidence surveys, he consistently ranked last among the eight party leaders. At most, 8 percent of those surveyed had great or fairly great confidence in him. That was in June 2024, at the same time as Demirok's greatest electoral success came in the European Championship election.
Then, the party received 7.3 percent. It was a decline from 2019, but the party managed to retain its two mandates despite the gloomy prospects before the European Championship election.
The simmering uprising within the Center Party culminated late last autumn. The triggering factor was a party board meeting where it was perceived that Demirok surprisingly tried to push through a decision to support S-leader Magdalena Andersson as prime ministerial candidate.
It had an explosive effect.
The youth league chairman Caroline von Seth demanded his resignation. The uprising eventually fizzled out, and von Seth left her post.
Demirok remains in place until the party holds an extraordinary meeting. This week, he is calling an extra party board meeting to decide on the extraordinary meeting, according to the Center Party to TT. Only after that will the election committee's work begin. The regular meeting takes place in November.
Muharrem Demirok is the Center Party's thirteenth party leader. He succeeded Annie Lööf in February 2023.
He was born in 1976 in Huddinge outside Stockholm. His father is from Turkey, and his mother is Swedish. Demirok has had both Swedish and Turkish citizenship, but since spring 2023, he has only been a Swedish citizen.
Demirok has a degree in political science from Linköping University, the same city where he lives with his family.
Muharrem Demirok became a member of the Center Party in 2002 and was elected to the party board in 2005. In 2009, he became a municipal councilor in Linköping, a post he left when he was elected to the Riksdag in 2022. Then, he also became the party's education policy spokesperson.
He has himself told that he has been convicted of assault twice. The first time was in 1995, when he was sentenced to 70 days' fines. The second time was in 1999. He was then sentenced to a conditional sentence with 40 hours of community service.
Source: Among others, the Center Party.
