According to Ulf Bjereld, a political science professor at Gothenburg University, ”It is clearly a success for the Social Democrats to enter the election campaign without Laila.”
At the same time though they are saying that resignation was an embarrassment to the party, which is trailing a center-right coalition in polls six months before national elections.
An opinion poll conducted earlier this month showed the center-right opposition bloc leading the Social Democrats and its two support parties by 51% to 46%. Swedes vote on September 17th.
Freivalds stepped down Tuesday, a day after allegations emerged that she lied about her role in ordering the crackdown on a far-right Web site that solicited Prophet Muhammad caricatures.
