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Embattled Prime Minister Calls Snap Poll

Gotland will go to the polls for the third time in four years this June after embattled Prime Minister Johanna Swaan finally called time on a troubled term. The announcement came after weeks of rising tensions within – and allegations of corruption and cover-up by – her left-of-centre coalition.

Speaking on the steps of the PM's official residence in Carlsborg this morning, Swaan said, "This is Gotland's chance to elect a government that works: not just for its own sake but also for the people. My party will be that government."

Appointed 2 days before her 40th birthday, Swaan unexpectedly became the youngest prime minister in more than a century when her centrist Liberal Democratic Party emerged the second-largest party at the inconclusive 2019 election. After the longest government formation talks in history, she managed to cobble together a fractured coalition of socialists, liberals, greens, and a regional separatist party; a so called "traffic light coalition". However, inexperience and internal division soon came to bear and the government stumbled from scandal to scandal.

In March 2020 – just one month into office – the Prime Minister was informed that her regional development minister had serious allegations of corruption and inappropriate personal behaviour against him. What happened thereafter depends on what side of the political divide you stand on.

Supporters of the PM say she ordered an investigation, ensuring names and details were kept private to ensure a fair outcome. Opponents of the PM say she – deliberately or otherwise – engineered a cover-up. Either way, the allegations – and the minister in question – trundled on until they were explosively revealed in November last year by the Leader of the Opposition. By that time Swaan said she had "forgot" various details. Notes from her assistants suggested otherwise. For the first time since it took office, the fractured governing coalition managed to find unity in voting down a parliamentary enquiry.

The Leader of the Opposition is Stefan Schriever, leader of the centre-right (sometimes labelled populist) Party for Freedom and Democracy. By some way PFD emerged the largest party at the previous election but thanks to Swaan, Schriever was – for a second time – denied the chance to be prime minister. Charismatic, witty, with some of the best oration skills of his generation, Schriever has carried his party from outsider status to "government in waiting" since he became leader in 2014. He is dubbed by supporters and opponents alike as "the most feared man in Gotland". His performances at the leadership debates in 2015 and 2019 are hailed by political pundits as artistry in political assassination. However, his skills on the campaign trail couldn't overcome parliamentary math and, with the numbers (just) on her side, Swaan pipped him to the post for PM. Now, just 18 months on, he'll get a third chance at the top job.

Unlikely to be a candidate for prime minister will be Swaan herself. From highs of 25% in February 2020, her centrist Liberal Democratic Party is now polling in single digits. Some polls predict Swaan will not return to parliament, let alone the premiership. Meanwhile, Schriever's PFD continues to rise unabated in the polls. His party is polling at highs unseen for 40 years; some even predict single-party government. Schriever and his PFD are benefiting from voters alienated by 18 months of turmoil as well as those still angered about the "grand coalition" (between the main centre-right People's Party and the main centre-left Labour Party) of 2017–19.

Gotland's parliament, Rieksdag, has 150 seats elected by open party-list proportional representation. The election will take place on Wednesday 9 June.