Muharrem Demirok has a difficult starting position when he takes office as party leader.

The Center Party's is, to put it mildly, in a problematic situation.

The party's trend in public opinion is downward.

In the latest SVT/Novus voter barometer, the party ends up at 5.0 percent.

At the same time, in recent years, the party has lost support on important political issues, other surveys show.

It is therefore a real challenge already here for a new party leader.

The Riksdag election last year was a minor disaster for the Center Party, which was the party that backed the most of the Riksdag parties.

Equally serious was the sharp decline in traditionally strong center strongholds outside the big cities.

In addition, Demirok succeeds a party leader who has been very dominant in his party.

Few other party leaders in Sweden in recent years have had such a strong position in their party as Annie Lööf.

And there are several historical examples of how difficult it is to succeed a strong party leader.

It also affects the successor's leeway to do away with old truths and change the political course.

This, too, is part of the uphill battle Muharrem Demirok has to overcome.

Another is that Demirok, who was a municipal councillor, lacks real experience in national politics.

He entered the Riksdag as recently as last autumn.

Awkward location

In addition, the Center Party is in an awkward parliamentary position in the Riksdag after the election, without influence over government policy and as part of a divided opposition.

The misdemeanor convictions are also said to make Demirok's uphill climb steeper.

Although they occurred a long time ago, it is clear that these revelations have hurt him, not least the fact that he withheld this information from the party and thus the voters for all these years.

His political opponents learn to exploit that when the opportunity arises.

The discussion surrounding his dual citizenship may also have an impact.

The background is that the Security Police has warned of security problems with certain citizenships.

However, Demirok has announced that he will terminate his Turkish citizenship.

Top management

Under Annie Lööf's leadership, the Center Party became more and more top-controlled.

The municipal constituencies in the party now want to change that.

Demirok is singled out as a listening politician who is good at collaborating.

However, few within the Center Party talk about what is his most important task;

to win elections and his conditions to do just that.

With his metropolitan background and political profile, he is not a given magnet among rural voters.

All previous center leaders, who have been successful, have had a background in the countryside.

How Demirok wants to change the Center Party's policy is also unclear.

Nevertheless, this is the Center Party's biggest challenge in reversing the negative opinion trend.

For a long time, Annie Lööf managed to both attract women in the big cities, and a more traditional rural center.

The election last autumn showed that the party there had reached the end of the road.

The Center Party lost heavily both in the countryside and among women in the cities.

These are groups that are hardly attracted by the same political message.

In addition, the Center Party is faced with a strategic choice of path, which is ultimately about whether the party wants to seek to move left or right in the long term.

Neither Demirok nor the Center Party can afford to close both doors.