A neoliberal consensus dominates most of the big newspapers but there are some local leftwing papers and of course Aftonbladet which is (as is Expressen) an evening paper and therefore has more Britney and docu-soaps coverage.

Tv and radio is dominated by public service, SVT and SR. They have sort of a middle-of-the-road approach as they need to be perceived as objective. That tends to position them to the left of the press and they also act as some form of guidline to were the center is.

On the topic of how convinced the people is, I continue to note that the right bloc came to power by moving to the left and they are not moving out to the right with any considerable speed. Reinfelt seems to hold his party (Moderaterna, which dominates the right field) in very strict control and looks determined to keep them "the new workers party" which was their slogan this autumn. Of course they are to the right of Göran Perssons left wing government they replaced but not hugely so.

The socialdemocrats will choose Mona Sahlin as their next chairperson in March. All opponents has dropped out of the competition. She is generally considered to be in the right wing of the social democrats, however she is above all a skilled politician. In all likelyhood she will be the first female prime minister of Sweden (in 2010 or 2014). She would have been in 1995 or 1996 had she not been the target of a campaign probably in part directed from opponents within her party. This time it looks like she has everything under control.

What the social democrats strategy will be remains to be seen, but if she chooses to lead them to the left the election 2006 may very well be the year the swedish political spectrum turned left after drifting to the right for about two decades.

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