Well, hello, welcome to Strängnäs. As I said, never before has the election in Strängnäs attracted as much attention as it has today. There are seven days, seven hours left to vote, so that effort always pays off and crime always pays off. If you feel unsure, you can vote now. If you voted wrong, you can vote again. So it's a very nice election campaign, I think. A fun election campaign, an exciting election campaign. Important policy issues at the center. And quite obviously we have gained momentum in these last weeks. So it's a very, very exciting evening to follow, I think. Nice to be in Strängnäs and vote.
The campaign is over. How do you feel? I feel great. 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.
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.
Right now I have with me Ulf Kristersson, who has just cast his vote. I can guess who he cast his vote for. Well, we have the secret ballot 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 fantastically fine election campaign. Both fun as an election should be, intensive, many miles, many door knocks. Yes, but very nice, I think. I think we got the policy issues at the center and the government alternatives at the center in the end. So I really feel we have done everything we can to win it.
And what is the mood like? Well, the mood is good. It has been for several weeks now. I think you have felt that too. We have momentum on our side. But now we just have to wait for the result, quite simply. 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 may 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 of Sweden? Well, that's not how you should think about it. You don't count your victories in advance, nor your defeats in advance. My work is that you are prime minister around the clock, all the time. That also applies to my election campaign.
It may be hard after the election to see who the winner is today, given how the early voting has gone. But if you get to continue as prime minister, how easy will it be for you to form a government, so to speak? 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. Then it is always difficult to negotiate an entire government program. You have to negotiate a whole new government. That is not uncomplicated. It may be harder than you think, because you don't usually see much of it. We'll do it in peace and quiet, and then we'll come out with a joint result, and that's how it will be 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.
Thank you, Prime Minister. Thanks. Then we'll take Strängnäs Tidning.
Of course. I'm ready. You actually had a chance to be first, Sträng's newspaper. Anna. Yes.
And everyone else will get an interview. So just stay calm. Tjena.
Hi.
Yes. How does it feel to cast your vote here in Sträng?
Well, I always think it's a solemn occasion to vote. I always vote on Sunday. And it's extra fun to do it at home in Sträng, of course.
And which question do you think will be pointed out as the most important one 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 you take two, I still think the mortgage tax and the volume discount are very convincing examples of the fact that there are very large 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 implement 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 are not very sure we can implement. 93 percent of our election promises from the last election have been implemented or started. So we take such things seriously. We can compromise, we can negotiate, we can prioritize. Those are the kinds of things that make it possible to implement.
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. Shall we take you here?
Yes. Kristersson has become hotter on one thing, and you know that the Sweden Democrats are in government. Do you have 12 ministers on the table?
I have said throughout the election that government negotiations about exact priorities, exact government declarations, and exact ministerial posts and departments — that comes later. I have a saying in Sweden that says you shouldn't sell the skin before the bear is shot, and I intend to apply that. We had that in Norway too. There was a case in Norway a year ago during the election campaign where there was a discussion between the left-wing parties and the Right about who would be prime minister.
How important has it been for you to have that prime ministerial mandate?
It was quite obvious. Everyone knows you can only become prime minister if you can gather parties and voters for joint action, a common majority, joint action — and I have shown over four 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 for joint action.
I was at the election campaign finale with Jimmie Åkesson in the Kungs region yesterday. It's a different political culture in that party. Are you ready to form a government with them?
All eight parties in Sweden simply have different party cultures. In all parties there is not... We have shown for several years that we can have eight budgets together. And the previous government lost three of eight budgets. It's completely different. We have proven our ability. Thank you very much.
So today it is decided whether you get to be prime minister for two 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 is the Swedish people who decide Sweden's political future. But I feel confident and have good hopes for tonight's result.
So if the Tidö parties win this, what do you foresee will be the hardest questions when you sit down and try to put together this new government?
I don't think it's any single question that is hard. Negotiations are always hard. I usually say that we are eight parties in the Swedish parliament and no one is even close to a majority. It is only we who have the ability to compromise but in a definite common direction. That is what we have done.
And I think you can say that you have proven that over these last four years.
It will be... Then sometimes perhaps you understand that it's not exactly the same thing. You discuss it properly and then we will also agree.
