Red lines.
The expression is usually used in politics to describe an opinion or stance that a party is not prepared to compromise on.
For the Liberals, it has, among other things, been about the extent to which the party can cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, for the Left Party market rents.
Parties making statements about which proposals they want to convert into concrete policy is part of an election campaign, but have they become more careful with what they promise before this election?
Magdalena Andersson (S) has said several times that she does not want to draw red lines, including in an interview in Expressen in July.
The Green Party's Per Bolund expressed himself in a similar way in Ekot's party leader hearing.
Negotiations after the election
Jan Teorell, political scientist at Stockholm University, believes that politicians have learned from the difficult negotiations that followed the last election.
- Who will sit in the government and what policy it stands behind, these are questions that will have to be negotiated after the election.
And if you have then bound yourself and said "this shall not happen" in my government, then those negotiations will be even more difficult.
For the voters, the lack of concreteness can create doubts about what the parties really stand for, says Jenny Madestam, political scientist at the Norwegian Defense University.
In this way, the parties also seem to have reversed the process that usually characterizes the election campaign and its aftermath.
Not as long a government process
- The situation after the election is taken out in advance.
The usual thing is that you go to elections on your election promises, which are clear and say "this is what we are passionate about, this is what we want to do if we win power" and then, afterwards, you sit down at the table and discussing.
The apparently increased willingness to compromise could guarantee a slightly less complicated government formation process after the election.
In any case, both political scientists seem to agree that it probably won't be as long a process as last time.
But Jenny Madestam believes that the absence of the red lines could be an expression of a somewhat tentative start to the final phase of the election campaign.
- Maybe you will realize as time goes by that it is necessary to highlight your own election promises, because otherwise the voters will start scratching their heads and wonder if this has to do with government power, rather than being passionate about certain issues.