"I am aware that my leadership has been criticised," Demirok said, adding that "it will be someone else's task to lead this party into the next election."
Demirok has been in hot water recently, with the leader heavily criticised from within the party for his leadership, his low opinion ratings and the ongoing debate as to which side of the political divide the party should align with in the run-up to next year's election. He reportedly called for the party to formally support Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, which would align it with the Left Party and Green Party, although party leadership could not come to an agreement.
"I'm not prepared to let a discussion on my party leadership stand in the way for Sweden or a positive election result in 2026," Demirok said.
The party had an opinion rating of just 3.8 percent in SVT/Verian's most recent voter survey in February, 0.8 percentage points lower than the previous month. That's well below the 6.7 percent result from the 2022 election and just below the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent.
The only party which scored lower was the Liberals, with a rating of just 2.5 percent. This was the lowest rating for the two liberal parties since the voter survey began over 50 years ago.
The Centre Party has collaborated in the past with the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Moderates as part of the Alliance government, but has historically refused to work with the Sweden Democrats, which has barred the party from working with the right-wing bloc currently running the country.
The party also refuses to work with the Left Party, which is one of the four parties in the left-wing bloc, meaning that it has found it difficult to find a place in the new political climate.
"I'm not scared of Social Democrats. I'm not scared of Green Party members, Moderates or Liberals or Christian Democrats," Demirok said in the press conference on Monday. "The opposite in fact, because I know that they are not the ones threatening to destroy the Sweden we love. We share a common ground."
Demirok took over as party leader in February 2023 from Annie Lööf, who had been leader of the party for over 10 years.
Sweden's two political blocs have a roughly even split of votes, with just 3.8 percent between them in February's opinion poll. The current ruling block has 176 seats ‒ the government (Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats), with the support of the Sweden Democrats and one former Sweden Democrat who is now independent. The opposition ‒ the Social Democrats, Left Party, Green Party and Centre Party, plus one former Social Democrat independent ‒ has 173 seats.
If the new leader of the Centre Party were to ally with the right-wing bloc and the Sweden Democrats, it would represent a shift to the right for Swedish politics and effectively make it impossible for the Social Democrats to form a government, unless there were major shifts in support for the other left-wing parties.
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