Kiruna's local KD top Krister Pounu made a successful choice.
The party went from being one of the city's smallest parties to becoming the second largest with 11.6 percent of the vote, according to preliminary election results.
And they did that by pushing issues over which municipal politics really have no power.
Pounu wants more buildings to be allowed in reindeer herding areas and that anyone should be allowed to engage in reindeer herding.
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Many voters in Kiruna municipality believe that the election campaign was not really clean, with some parties using rhetoric that is harshly directed against the Sami.
Photo: SVT Sápmi
"Sheer frame sedition"
Several Sami voters have reacted strongly to the harsh tone of the election campaign.
Several parties on the right have gone to the polls in northern Sweden on, among other things, criticism of Girjas Cathedral and reindeer husbandry.
At the same time that inaccuracies and hateful images of the Sami have been painted in both advertisements and in the debate on social media.
Most recently in Vinterstaden's scooter and leisure association's criticized advertisement which is published in a number of free newspapers.
- It's pure incitement, says Anna-Britta Rikko, voter in Kiruna municipality.
But the harsh rhetoric may be here to stay for a long time to come.
Simon Matti, professor of political science at Luleå University of Technology, is not surprised that the election campaign turned out the way it did.
Sami voters feel that the tone has become harsher, why is this happening?
- A high-pitched tone, a polarized election, it gives the voters an idea that it is important, it is exciting, it is uncertain and it makes you as a voter more inclined to get involved in politics, he says.
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"If someone has a piece of land and suddenly you are not allowed to build on it, then the land becomes indirectly worthless".
Hear Krister Pounu (KD) answer three burning questions about the rights of the Sami villages.
Photo: Hans Sternlund, SVT/Lise Åserud, TT
“Not much to do”
Nor is it the first time that Sami experience racism in the political arena.
In many municipalities, municipal leaders have distanced themselves from racism.
In 2021, the opposition demanded that Kiruna's then municipal management do it - but they didn't want to.
What is required for the debate climate not to be so polarized?
- It is very difficult to say.
That is the political landscape we have in Sweden today.
It looks like this.
On certain issues, the parties are very far apart and there is probably not much you can do about it, says Simon Matti.
He continues:
- You can in and of yourself choose carefully which questions you bring up and how.
But otherwise, this is the political climate we live with right now.