Liberal leader begs for tactical votes
The Liberal Party's leader Simona Mohamsson has called on voters from the other parties in the pro-government Tidö coalition to vote tactically for her party, asking them to give her "a helping hand."
If the Liberals, who are currently polling at around 2 percent, fail to get over the 4 percent parliamentary threshold in the election on September 13th, she said, the left-wing opposition was near-certain to win.
"I want to address those of you who want to maximise the effect of your vote and ensure that the blue-yellow team gets four more years," Mohamsson said.
She warned that without their support, Sweden risked being thrown into a far-left hellscape, using the phrase rött åt helvete, a pun combining rätt åt helvete, meaning "straight to hell", with rött, indicating the red, or left-wing bloc.
She called for voters who wouldn't normally vote Liberal, but instead perhaps for the Moderate Party, to vote for her party.
"I am calling on you to plump for the Liberals this autumn. I am asking for your mandates to ensure a right-wing government after the election. The Liberals have to be part of it, otherwise it will be Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and a government with the Left Party and the Green Party," she said.
Swedish vocabulary: rätt åt helvete – straight to hell
Sweden's fiscal watchdog says next government has 95 billion to spend
The National Institute of Economic Research (KI), Sweden's fiscal watchdog, has said that the country's next government will have 95 billion kronor to spend on new reforms over the next four years, almost double what Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson will present in her outlook for Sweden's economy later on Thursday.
"The government has a positive but small budget margin in its forecasts for the coming years. The government's estimate of the budget margin is lower than in the National Institute of Economic Research's figures – about half as large for the coming three years," KI's Director Albin Kainelainen, said.
"We have looked back at all forecasts since 2015. And this is not extreme, but it is clearly lower compared to what it usually is."
Sweden is currently running large deficits, with a deficit of about 200 billion kronor both this year and next year, with the deficit only set to shrink in 2028.
Svantesson claimed earlier this year that the next government would have no spending room for new reforms at all.
Swedish vocabulary: tydligt – clearly
Stockholm and Gothenburg hardest for finding student housing
Stockholm and Gothenburg remain the hardest cities for students to find housing in, according to the annual housing report of Swedish National Union of Students, although availability of student housing has increased since last year.
Sweden's two traditional university cities, Uppsala and Lund, have done the most to increase the amount of student accommodation, with both this year celebrating the completion of major building projects.
The report groups towns and cities into three categories: green, where students can find housing within a month, yellow, where students can expect to get a first-hand rental contract valid for their whole period of study "at some point in the autumn term", and red, where students cannot get accommodation in the autumn term.
Alnarp, Gothenburg, Kiruna, Stockholm, and Visby are all rated "red".
The "yellow" cities include Arvika, Borås, Gävle, Halmstad, Helsingborg, Jönköping, Karlskrona, Linköping, Luleå, Lund, Malmö, Norrköping, Piteå, Skellefteå, Skövde, Trollhättan, Umeå, Uppsala, Örebro, and Östersund.
Green university towns include Borlänge, Eskilstuna, Falun, Kalmar, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Sundsvall, Västerås, and Växjö.
Swedish vocabulary: utlovade – promised
Moderates promise to end sentence reduction for multiple offences by 2029
The Moderate Party has brought forward the time at which it is promising to end sentence reductions for multiple offences by one year to 2029, announcing the change at a press conference with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson.
"It can be done, it's fully possible," Kristersson claimed. "We are going to make this a priority," added Svantesson.
Sweden's parliament earlier this month passed a new bill ending sentence reductions for multiple offences but the bill included no date when the measure was expected to come into force.
The Social Democrats have described the party's proposals as "pure fantasy", arguing that the Prison and Probation Service will not be able to build the necessary prison places.
"The Moderates are holding their fifth press conference about the sentence discount: the election promise they made two weeks ago did not even last until election day. It is farcical crisis management," the Social Democrats' legal policy spokesperson, Teresa Carvalho, said in a written comment.
Swedish vocabulary: farsartad – farcical