Social Democrats 'are like a sect'
James Savage - [email protected]
Published: 13 Nov, 2006 CET.
Updated: Mon 13 Nov 2006 16:30 CET
The Social Democrats are a sect-like party that has been taken over by internal fights, according to former senior minister Leif Pagrotsky.
The party that ruled Sweden for most of the past century has lost the ability to appeal to the middle classes and the inhabitants of the big cities, the former culture minister said in an interview on SVT on Monday.
"The internal fights and the closed atmosphere were strong contributory factors to the Social Democrats losing the election," he said.
Pagrotsky called on his party colleagues to renew the Social Democrats' programme.
"In order to be in a position in 2010 to succeed with our politics, we need to listen more and be less authoritarian."
He also accused the party of greeting new ideas with "aggression instead of encouragement. New groups have not felt welcome," he said.
Comments
See Also
The party that ruled Sweden for most of the past century has lost the ability to appeal to the middle classes and the inhabitants of the big cities, the former culture minister said in an interview on SVT on Monday.
"The internal fights and the closed atmosphere were strong contributory factors to the Social Democrats losing the election," he said.
Pagrotsky called on his party colleagues to renew the Social Democrats' programme.
"In order to be in a position in 2010 to succeed with our politics, we need to listen more and be less authoritarian."
He also accused the party of greeting new ideas with "aggression instead of encouragement. New groups have not felt welcome," he said.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.