Simona Mohamsson: The New Hope for Sweden's Liberals?

Simona Mohamsson becomes the new leader of the Liberal Party. Is this a shift to the left? Hardly.

It took some time, but now the Liberal Party's nomination committee has presented its candidate. The next leader of the smallest and most crisis-ridden party in the Swedish parliament is Simona Mohamsson, a 30-year-old from Gothenburg, who has been the party secretary since April this year.

Simona Mohamsson has been called the "hope of social liberals." An activist who disliked Nyamko Sabuni's rightward shift on government issues.

The party's left faction rejoices. But those who think Mohamsson will walk out of the Tidö government and resume the fight for "liberal values"—acting as a support party for the Social Democrats in exchange for some agreement on simpler building codes for waterfront holiday homes—are mistaken.

And not just because Simona Mohamsson calls the Liberals a bourgeois party, has accepted the Tidö agreement, and has realized that Sweden needs "a firm hand," as she put it at the press conference.

The Liberals will not break the Tidö government because they cannot. If Mohamsson does so, despite the Liberals having five ministers and controlling two departments, and having a party congress decision to cooperate to the right, and being dependent on moderate support votes, it would be goodbye to the party. It has not yet recovered since Jan Björklund entered the January agreement.

The fact that the charismatic—but untested for heavier posts—Mohamsson is the only candidate should not be interpreted as the Liberals making a left turn. The conclusion is that the party is desperate. It's not a last-minute desperation, it's a post-closing-time kebab queue level.

Among the top names, no one wanted the job. Lotta Edholm said no. Romina Pourmokhtari likewise. Not even the plan to fly in Erik Ullenhag from New York succeeded.

But who can blame them? Headlines about internal dissatisfaction, this time from the right faction, came even before the nomination committee and Mohamsson held their press conference. Fun job!

It's not a last-minute desperation, it's a post-closing-time kebab queue level.

The Liberals resemble a reality show where factional battles and relationship dramas are served to the public without a filter. If the leader of faction A says something that upsets faction B, it leads to a public brawl.

The division between right and left has always existed, but it has worsened with the new political conflicts of the 21st century. One faction sees gang shootings and honor killings as the greatest threat to human freedom, the other nationalism and hijab bans. Neither intends to be silenced.

Here lies the core of the Liberals' problem. Despite Martin Melin, the Liberals are not a reality show, but a political party that helps govern Sweden. The constant bickering not only tires voters but also ties the hands of the party leader, making it difficult to chart a direction.

One should not count anyone out prematurely. Perhaps Simona Mohamsson can create an Ebba Busch or Annie Lööf effect.

"As party leader, I will be myself," Mohamsson said at the press conference. Will her party let her be that?