Mikael Sundström

The Centre party weathered what amounted to an almost existential mid-term public opinion crisis, to end up outperforming its coalition partners in the 2014 general election. Although it too fell back, it shed a notable proportion of tactical support voters, and actually increased its share of genuine, first-preference, voters. The Centre party has revisited and refreshed its ideological foundation, which, after a stormy interval, appears to have knitted party factions closer together. This process, like the one leading up to the election of party leader Annie Lööf in 2011, was characterised by unprecedented transparency and deliberation opportunities, and we argue that this has favourably impacted the party-internal arena. In the parliamentary arena, the Centre Party has been overshadowed by the much larger government coalition partner, the Moderate Party. There is some evidence to suggest that a level of resurgence may be on the cards as the party has now switched roles to become a freer and relatively strong-voiced opposition party.