Hello there.
Matilda.
That's great, really great. Back closed.
Oh well.
Oh well.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Have you got...
K.
Or you could fold it in, maybe.
Thank you very much.
Nice to...
You may...
Malin Andersson.
I'm going out.
Look at the address, you're going the wrong way. Come.
Here.
Exactly. Hi, running 10.
Yes. Yes.
Wait, you're going in behind the bath here, in just a moment you'll get...
To.
Is it closer?
I think for...
Just.
299.
Has.
Blank and and.
Region.
Here.
Then we'll take the frame. Thank you very much.
Anna.
Just to say that media is on its way now. If there's anyone who really doesn't want to, you can hide, they're going to broadcast here.
Yes, exactly.
Here.
Away.
If you go.
Together.
Hi there.
Hello, hello.
Hi.
That's good. That's good. It's good.
Hello.
Yes. Oh well. Do you have a colleague over there?
Really great. Do we start there then, or do we start here?
No, we start there.
We start here.
Who is he?
Yes.
Then we go here and get the red flag.
Yes, come.
Yes.
Are you going to join in too, or?
Oops.
Interest.
In the election in Strängnäs has never been so high.
Or anything.
Hi there.
Yes.
Yes, you just get to vote.
Yes, exactly. Not to vote for.
Not either. [laughter]
K.
Thank you for that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
One, two, three.
Oh well.
Come in.
And.
All the media.
Yes, it's the last day.
Uh.
The things that...
It's a question that...
Well, welcome to Strängnäs. As I said, never before has the election in Strängnäs attracted as much attention as today. Now there are seven days, seven hours left to vote, so that law-abidingness always pays off and crime always gets punished. If you feel unsure, you can vote now, and if you voted wrong, you can vote again. So it's a really nice election campaign, I think. A fun election campaign, an exciting election campaign, important policy issues at the center, and quite obviously we've gained momentum these last few weeks. So it's a very, very exciting evening to follow, I think. Nice to be in Strängnäs and vote.
Good. Then we'll move a little bit away so we're not in the way of people who are going to vote.
We'll stand here. Then we'll take them one at a time.
We'll start with TV4, which has two minutes.
Starting with Strängnäs Tidning. This one should have hope.
We'll start with Strängnäs Tidning. Ready? No.
Okay, we can just one minute.
Okay. Prime Minister.
Yes, but now we'll take these first. Prime Minister.
The campaign is over. How do you feel?
I feel great. I'm very hopeful. We had a great campaign, an enthusiastic campaign, extremely important topics on the table, and I think we are in a good position to be able to win this election.
How do you feel about the comeback just a few weeks ago? You were far away, now the gap is very tight.
Well, it's not that complicated. I have told colleagues of yours all the time that polls are polls, you know, and it's actually the election result that really counts. And all those who think, you know, if you think you are winning because of good polls, you are not winning. If you think you are losing because of bad polls, you are losing. So I was quite convinced that eventually the two real alternatives would be kind of compared and contested, and I think we have won on that comparison.
Thank you. Thank you. Now we have a live interview with TV4 over here, and I'll ask you to move back just a little bit. Thank you.
So I have with me Ulf Kristersson, who has just cast his vote. I can guess who he cast his vote for.
Yes, we have ballot secrecy here in Sweden.
We do have that. Kristersson, now your fate is in the hands of 8 million Swedes' votes. Do you feel that you have done everything you can to win this election?
Yes, I feel that. I feel that on my own behalf and above all on the party's behalf. A fantastic, fine election campaign. Both fun, as an election should be, intensive, many meetings, many door knocks. Yes, but very nice, I think. I think we got the policy issues to the center in the end and the government alternatives to the center in the end. So I really feel that we have really done everything we can for this.
And what is your gut feeling about what will happen?
Yes, well, my gut feeling is good. It has been that now for several weeks. I think others have felt that too. We have momentum on our side. But now we have to wait for the result. After all, there are still seven hours of campaigning left in some places around the country, so nothing is decided until everything is decided.
This could be your last day as prime minister. You might have to lead a transitional government if you were to lose. But is there anything you feel you haven't ticked off that you must do now in these last seven hours as prime minister?
Yes, but that's not how you should think about it. You don't take any victories in advance, nor any defeats in advance. My work is that you are prime minister around the clock, all the time. That is also my election campaign.
It may be hard after the election to see who the winner is today, given how the early voting looks. But if you get to continue as prime minister, how easy will it be for you to form a government, so to speak?
No, well, if the blue-and-yellow team wins, it will be easy in that sense. We know what we want. We agree on the direction, and then negotiations are always difficult. You have to negotiate an entire government program. You have to negotiate an entirely new government. That is not uncomplicated. It may be harder than you think. You don't usually see so much of that. We usually do it in peace and quiet, and then we come out with a joint result, and that will be the case this time too. It's a bit different if the other side had some kind of mathematical majority to push through the Centre and the Left's tax policy. I wouldn't recommend that.
We thank the prime minister.
Thanks. Then we'll take Strängnäs Tidning.
Of course.
Ready.
You actually had a chance to be first.
Strängnäs Tidning.
Anna.
Yes.
And everyone else will get an interview. So just stay calm. Hi there.
Hi.
Yes. How does it feel to cast your vote here in Strängnäs?
Yes, well, it's always a solemn occasion, I think, to vote. I always vote on Sundays. And it's extra nice to get to do it at home in Strängnäs, of course.
And which issue do you think will be pointed out as the most important in this election campaign in hindsight?
You can't know that. But I would say there are reasons why I have said that this is a choice we make between two completely different views on fundamental issues of justice. If I had to pick two, I would still say the mortgage tax and the mass deduction are, I think, clear examples of the very big differences between the blue-and-yellow side and the red-green side.
And which election promise do you feel most confident about being able to deliver if you get the chance to govern for four more years?
I think all the election promises we have put forward are very realistic. We don't promise things that we don't feel very sure we can deliver. 93 percent of our election promises from the last election have been delivered or started. So we take such things seriously. We can compromise, we can negotiate, we can prioritize. Those are usually the kinds of things that make it possible to deliver.
And if the election result is weaker than you hope, what responsibility do you take personally? Will you step down as party leader?
I don't plan for losses. I plan for victory.
Thank you.
Thanks. Shall we take you here?
Yes. Kristersson has become tighter in the polls, and you know that the Sweden Democrats are in government. Do you have 12 ministers?
I have said throughout the election that government negotiations about exact priorities, exact government declarations and exact ministerial posts and departments — that comes later. We have a saying in Sweden that you shouldn't sell the bear's fur before you've caught it, and I intend to apply that.
They had that in Norway too. It happened in Norway a year ago during the election campaign, where there was a discussion between Frp and Høyre about who would take the prime ministership. How important has it been to have that settled?
Quite obvious. Everyone knows that you can only become prime minister if you can gather parties and voters for joint action, a joint majority, joint action — and I have shown over the years that I can actually do that. I have understood that all parties would actually like to form their own government. But on my side, it is I who can gather the party into a joint government.
I was at the election campaign finale with Jimmie Åkesson in Kungsträdgården yesterday. It's a different political culture we see in that party. Are you ready to take on the challenge?
All eight parties in Sweden simply have different party cultures in all...
Didn't manage to...
That we can agree on eight budgets together. The previous government lost three of eight.
It's a completely different thing. We have proven our ability.
Thank you very much.
Yes, so today it's decided whether you get to be prime minister for four more years. How does it feel? Are you nervous?
I'm not the nervous type, really, but it's a bit tense, of course. It's an important day, a solemn day. Today it's the Swedish people who decide Sweden's political future. But I feel confident and have good hopes for tonight's result.
So if the party teams win this, what do you see ahead of you — what will be the hardest questions when you sit down to put together this new government?
I don't think there's any single question that's hard. Negotiations are hard in general. I usually say that we are eight parties in the Swedish parliament and no one is even close to a majority on their own. It's only we who have the ability to compromise, but in a definite common direction. And that's something I can say you have proven over these last four years. It will be harder sometimes, perhaps, but we discuss things properly and then we also...
It's not exactly the same thing.
We discuss things properly and then we also...
So what does Plan B look like if you were to lose and the Moderates had a bad election — what do you do?
In an election campaign you work to win. I am completely...
The people's will.
But it will be like a vote of confidence in you in a way, this election. As prime minister you always... you don't ask, it's not a...
So it looks even in the polls and you have recovered. What do you think this recovery is really due to? How would you explain it?
I'm not so surprised by this. I said already in June that when the alternatives are really set against each other, when all these pretend alternatives that some have hoped for — the Social Democrats alone, who lose every time — when they disappear, and they have disappeared, then there are two important sides facing each other. Then politics is tested. Then you get my team's politics against the Social Democrats and the Left. And we have won a lot.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Anders.
So, how hopeful are you for tonight?
Yeah, I'm hopeful. I think we have had a great campaign all these six, seven weeks, but not least the last weeks have been fantastic. I think we have made an enormous job together. I think there is a genuine enthusiasm to continue our important work.
And looking ahead, if you win or lose, it will be tight anyway, which means it could be difficult to have a majority in parliament.
How do you see it? If we win, my team wins, it will not be that complicated. We have been doing these negotiations for four years.
Consecutive.
As always, we do it in a proper manner. If we win, it will be a very proper negotiation for the next government program, and for the next budget, and for the next cabinet.
If the four parties on the other side, in some kind of technical sense, win, they will need to be able to combine the Centre's and the Left's socialist economic policy.
And have you seen any foreign interference in the election so far?
No, we have not, and I'm quite sure that our civil servants and agencies working with that would be very alert if they had seen any signs of that. So I think we have had a fair and just election.
Thank you very much.
Quick question for Reuters. Could we say you feel confident today after voting?
Confident. I mean, I'm very hopeful. I have a good feeling. We've had a good campaign, but obviously no one can be confident because, you know, in some seven hours' time we will have a more or less final result — perhaps later this evening, or perhaps in a few days' time. So it depends on how narrow the margins will be, but I have a very good sense of it. I'm very hopeful and I have a good feeling.
Do you have a vision on the negotiations that would come afterwards?
A vision? You know, we are so well prepared. We have been negotiating for four years. We have prepared and confirmed eight consecutive budgets, so we know what we are doing. So I think people also rely on that. They know they will have an experienced cabinet with experienced ministers, parties that are well prepared for negotiations. So I'm very confident.
And how difficult will it be for you?
I mean, you know, we have eight parties in the Swedish parliament and no party is even close to having a majority of their own. So the precondition for getting things done is actually the ability to compromise, to have a clear vision but be pragmatic in the steps you take. And I think we have shown that for the last four years. And if we get the people's votes, we will continue to do that for the coming years as well. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
And you have 1342.
With us and running there. No, but we can run now. Can we?
Run now. Okay.
We're recording.
Coming.
Run.
Exactly.
