Swedish People's Party decides to appoint its own candidate for Presidential Election

Eva Biaudet and Henrik Lax run for candidacy

Eva Biaudet

Henrik Lax

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The Swedish People's Party has decided to enter its own candidate in the 2006 Presidential Elections. The name of the candidate, however, has not yet been decided upon, as there are two experienced politicians to choose from: MP Eva Biaudet, 44, and MEP Henrik Lax, 58.
      Party chairman and Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam, who previously expressed some reservations over appointing a candidate, now gives his full support to the undertaking. "It is better to regret something that you did, rather than to regret that you did not do anything", Enestam reasons.
     
The Swedish People's Party's party executive approved on Monday the plan to appoint an election candidate.
      A party working committee that includes the party chairpersons and the party secretary will make the final choice between the two candidates. The leaders of the party's four regional districts are also included in the decision-making.
      This "inner circle" of 14 people knows both candidates through and through.
     
"It all boils down to who would best serve as a unifying force within the party, and who would also be able to combine this with the interests of other target groups", Lax analyses the arrangement.
      Biaudet, in turn, emphasises her diversified background as a politician. She has already been a minister and has also served as the chair of the Swedish People's Party's parliamentary wing. It is generally believed that Biaudet, an urban liberal type, would be anathema to the more conservative party voters in the provinces along the west coast, but that she would have better "crossover" appeal with Finnish-speakers.
      The party working committee's suggestion for the Presidential candidate should be ready by the next party executive meeting in mid-May. The final appointing of the candidate will take place either in the following party conference in June, or alternatively at a supplementary conference in the autumn.
     
According to Enestam, the Swedish People's Party's financial contribution to the run-up to the election will be somewhat modest, in the region of EUR 50,000 to 100,000. "Closer to 50,000, if it was up to me."
      Opinion polls from earlier this spring reveal that 48 of the total of the party's 151 local chapters supported the idea of running the party's own candidate, while 38 were against it. Fifty chapters abstained from commenting on the question altogether.
      "The only certain conclusion to be drawn from this is that there is a lot of uncertainty", Enestam commented on Monday. Enestam had earlier ruled himself out as a possible runner, at the same time as he had expressed his misgivings about the venture as a whole.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Swedish Peoples Party offers qualified agreement on cooperation in Presidential elections (18.3.2005)
  Centre-right cooperation in Presidential election gains support (16.3.2005)

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