Ebba Busch’s message from the stage in Karlstad brings smiles to the faces of the gathered Christian Democrats. When she delivers her speech at the KD Days in April 2025, she will soon have held the party leadership for ten years.
During her tenure, the small party has managed to shift the dynamics of the political playing field. She was the first to open up to cooperation with the Sweden Democrats. She brought the Moderates on board, negotiated the Tidö Agreement, and secured six KD ministerial posts after the 2022 election.
But there have also been times of crisis. Ahead of the 2022 election, Christian Democrats in the influential Jönköping district opposed cooperation with the Sweden Democrats—going against the party line. From the grassroots in the Bible Belt came protests against the campaign being dominated by tough messages on migration and crime. Core issues such as healthcare, eldercare, and family policy were overshadowed.
Ebba Busch tried to strike a balance between the different factions within the party. A year later, that balance was close to tipping.
“There’s a mood of sorrow in my party,” said Per Högberg, chairman of the municipal executive in the free church-dense town of Mullsjö, in March 2023, a turbulent time for the party.
Elsewhere in the party, there were concerns about a shift to the left.
“They think we’re heading back to Bullerbyn, and we’re not,” a KD politician told Dagens Nyheter in October that same year.
When DN meets Per Högberg at KD Days in April 2025, the tone is entirely different. As a municipal commissioner and district chair in the Småland Bible Belt, and active in the Mission Church, he is a heavyweight within the party.
He now describes a “journey” the party has made since the last election. He points to the three words displayed on large screens behind Ebba Busch during her speech in Karlstad:
Healthcare. Everyday life. Values.
According to Per Högberg, these three V’s are the result of intense internal advocacy.
“Those of us active in the inner circle of the party have spoken up and persisted. I’m the chair of—not the largest—but the most important district. That gives you access to channels.”
With this slogan, he believes the party has found its way home. It’s about making it clear to voters why KD wants stricter migration policies and tougher crime-fighting: to make everyday life safer, to ensure healthcare and other welfare services function, and to hold society together.
“We’ve tweaked and refined the message and achieved clarity.”
The free church wing sees itself as the winner, even though it has had to give and take along the way. Susanne Lindholm Henningsson, municipal commissioner in Örebro and one of the free church KD politicians who previously protested, has been influenced by arguments from the other side.
“We needed to get out of the kindness trap. We have to face reality, and there are so many problems,” she says to DN in Karlstad, citing examples such as marginalized areas and welfare-related crime.
What has happened, according to one Christian Democrat, is that the entire party has come to terms with the need to address failed integration. Furthermore:
“Everyone now understands that if you express a different view on migration, you’re essentially saying no to being in government.”
The appointment of outspoken right-wing commentator Alice Teodorescu Måwe as the new EU parliamentarian is seen as proof that the tougher profile remains. But it’s no coincidence that she’s been paired with Susanne Lindholm Henningsson and others in a working group meant to discuss what continues to be the party’s shared campfire: values.
Louise Hammargren, chair of the youth wing—which has often nudged the party to the right—believes that it’s in the area of values that KD finds its reason for being.
“Not everything is about some moderate Excel spreadsheet. It’s about the people behind the numbers. I think KD has a unique position there,” she says.
The major conflicts seem to have calmed down, but as Ebba Busch approaches her tenth anniversary as party leader, clouds remain on the horizon. KD remains consistently below the parliamentary threshold in the polls. And trust in Ebba Busch has declined, according to DN/Ipsos surveys. Among core voters, it’s still relatively strong, but across the electorate, she is now the party leader with the lowest overall trust.
KDU’s Louise Hammargren says the party leader has a significant responsibility for the party’s performance.
“Trust is tested every day. You can’t think you’ll stay in your position forever—you’re on borrowed time,” she says. In Svenska Dagbladet, she even proposed a leadership reshuffle—without removing Ebba Busch.
“But she could take another step in her role as party leader and demonstrate what justifies our existence in Swedish politics.”
For now, Ebba Busch seems fairly secure. Several people point to the successful 2018 election as a lasting legacy.
“Her trust isn’t as strong as it was then—it was like North Korea back then. But even if someone grumbles about her, we don’t have a culture of ousting people,” says one Christian Democrat.
Per Högberg believes that by taking on tough debates and showing strength as a leader, Ebba Busch has made the party one that people now listen to.
“We have our tradition, where many think we should be kind. But with just the free church kindness, we probably wouldn’t exist today.”
In January, the party council amended a clause in the election platform to allow for government cooperation with both the Sweden Democrats and the Left Party. The conflict over whether KD can be in the same government as SD is considered by many DN spoke to as settled.
But in the free church-dominated Jönköping district, the SD cooperation is still difficult to defend. Per Högberg is more drawn to the idea of building bridges across political blocs.
“Our main alternative is clear: the Moderates. But fundamentally, I’d find it easier to cooperate with the Social Democrats than with the Sweden Democrats. We share many values.”
Susanne Lindholm Henningsson expresses the same concern about SD cooperation in the free church circles around Örebro.
“What I hear is that no one wants it. We want to grow and push them out.”
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