Last Friday, L leader Simona Mohamsson announced that the party board wants to drop the red line against the Sweden Democrats. The party now wants to sit in government with the SD, if the Tidö parties win the election this fall.
Until the joint press conference with SD leader Jimmie Åkesson, Mohamsson argued strongly against this. The reversal may now be in her hands.
It would be more credible if someone who has previously wanted to abolish the red line led the party. These rapid shifts do not inspire much credibility, says Annika Fredén at Lund University, who has specifically studied parties around the electoral threshold and tactical voters.
She points out that even tactical voters make an overall assessment and weigh factors such as the competence and credibility of party leaders.
Many undecided voters
The Liberals' turnaround is being made in a pressured situation. Opinion figures have long been around two percent, well below the parliamentary threshold of four percent, putting them at risk of voters considering a vote for them a waste.
Now everyone is anxiously awaiting the next opinion poll, because the time factor matters. Quite a few voters still haven't decided how they will vote, so public opinion could still change until the summer, says Fredén.
Upcoming opinion polls will therefore be a kind of signal to voters about how they should act.
There is still great uncertainty about voting for the Liberals, says Annika Fredén.
Clearer options
The party's clearer line on the government issue may, however, attract support primarily from the Moderates, who see it as difficult to continue governing if the Liberals were to leave parliament. On the other hand, there is a risk that liberal voters will now leave because of the rapprochement with the SD.
The announcement means there will be clearer government alternatives facing each other: a blue team and a red-green team. A vote for the Liberals will be a vote for continued Tidö cooperation, says Annika Fredén.
The question is whether the net gain will be that the party grows from this move to the right.
