The left party and the Centre party found each other in an unusual alliance in Sorsele

It is minus 25 and the clear blue sky. Somewhere behind the snow-clad the timber behind vindel mountain in the west. The alpine resort Nalovardo has since a few months the new owner and the mayor Kjell Öjeryd will bypass a spontanbesök. He is satisfied.

" All the arrows are pointing upwards for the hospitality industry in Sorsele, so it is important that the site works well, he says.

Alderman catch our breath a second.

" the Company is enormously important to me. That is where the jobs and the confidence is there and I want the entrepreneurs to feel that the municipality knows it. In this manner, I might be a little different vänsterpartist, " he says and smiles.

in his party. As a self-employed farmer with 140 animals stands out. A support of 36.5 percent does not belong to either day. In fact, Sorsele is the strongest vänsterkommunen in the country.

" I come from a working -. At the same time, my wife is from a centerfamilj and it has perhaps made me more pragmatic. If you hit just the red men is it easy to get a little single-minded, " he says.

After the 2014 election, it was thought that the social democrats and the Left party would continue to govern the municipality together. But V wanted to have more to say.

" We said this time we would like to negotiate on the policy and not just about items. Then came the we do not agree, " says Kjell Öjeryd.

Kjell Öjeryd. Photo: Anders Alm

with the Left party, the Centre party, the Moderates and the Christian democrats.

Kjell Öjeryd mean that it is easier to take informed decisions with a politician with a different ideology.

– When we ruled the S was it not the same reasoning. It is easy to assume that a party with the same ideology should have the same opinions. But should such a constellation, as we have here, work, then one is forced to talk through everything, " he says.

have a jättemajoritet after the elections in 2018, chose Kjell Öjeryd to continue the blocköverskridande cooperation, now with only the Centre party.

– if you Have had a good working relationship, it would feel strange to go back. I thought the best thing was that we continued, " says Kjell Öjeryd.

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more than four months after the elections in september before a new government was in place. The way there was a painful process for the involved parties.

Many of the politicians in the municipalities have already made the journey, a clear movement away from the logic of blocs has been going on for several years. After the 2010 elections was ruled 38 municipalities across blockgränsen.

today is ruled over 115 of the country's municipalities on the way, and then are not styrene, where the green Party cooperates with the alliance included.

is a complicated parliamentary position behind the change.

– The trigger is that The sweden democrats or the local parties have altered the balance of power, " says Johan Wänström, researchers at Linköping university with kommunalpolitik as the area of specialization.

During his research, he has talked with many politicians from the municipalities that are included in the blocköverskridande collaborations. Politicians testify that they are new formations many times has made it easier to resolve difficult political issues.

– for a long time we had a policy of blocs in Sweden, not least in the municipalities, that was almost a little unreflective sometimes. You assumed that konfliktlinjerna low between the blocks, although they many times did not make it out in the municipalities, " says Johan Wänström.

it is even a relief to cast off from previous partners. One reason is that several questions in which the right and left think different, as gains in welfare, or conversions of rental properties, is completely irrelevant in many municipalities. The issues that are important locally cleaves often the blocks.

Image 1 of 2 the municipal house in Sorsele. Photo: Anders Alm Slide 2 of 2 the Bridge over the Vindel river in Sorsele. Photo: Anders Alm Slideshow

So there have been many times even in Sorsele.

– The biggest issue during my time was if we would sell the heating plant. It shared not only blocks, but also parties, " says Roland Wermelin (C), who was mayor when the Alliance ruled the municipality 2006-2010.

was not a difficult decision to make. Through the years, the community of values between the two parties, grown locally. Parties are for vindkraftsetableringar and agree in their opposition to more national parks or nature reserves in the municipality. To byskolorna in Ammarnäs and Blattnicksele, which costs a lot of money, should be left with is a matter of course.

– In essence, the policy of Sorsele and many inlandskommuner to survive, that it should be possible to live here. Then you have to cooperate. Then, we think that it works well with Kjell. Personal chemistry is important, " says daughter Alexandra Wermelin, who is engaged in the local centerföreningen in the day.

Roland and Alexandra Wermelin with the grandson and the son of Elis. Photo: Anders Alm

from everything influence was, in other words, never in Sorsele. But completely missing, not ideological tensions. C was not jättesugna to raise the tax and V cheered, not when the four flyktingboenden was placed on private providers.

" the Strength in the cooperation is that we have been able to reason our way to good solutions. All of the difficult issues that we have had, we have been able to discuss fully. It's about doing the best for the community, " says Kjell Öjeryd.

The so-called januariavtalet on a national level is not as traumatic for him as for many colleagues.

"It was perhaps no önskelösning, but for the hinterland, it was the best policy as it could be," says Kjell Öjeryd.