Five parties have student representation in the new Municipal Council. Nya Moderaterna dusted off their list of young representatives, and is the best represented party with four candidates.
Photo: Archive/Jens Hunt.
When the new Council of Lund Municipality has its first meeting on 23 October, eight students at Lund University will take their seats. Gunnar Brådvik from Folkpartiet is studying National Economics and German, and is eagerly looking forward to his imminent commission.
“I am very much looking forward to getting started. I want to pursue policies that enhance the modernisation of the municipality, and also to make sure that the municipality becomes better at integrating international students.”
The law student, Björn Åhlin, from Miljöpartiet is not particularly happy about the outcome of the election, although he was elected as number six on his party’s list.
“Probably, few people are satisfied with the results of the election as a whole, which is sad. But it will be exciting to get to influence the municipal policies. I will work towards making Lund an environmentally safe city,” he says.
Will continue studying
Both Gunnar Brådvik and Björn Åhlin will continue studying at the same time as they work with the tasks with which they have been entrusted.
“Although it takes a lot of my time, the work in the Municipal Council is only ‘leisure-politics’,” Gunnar Brådvik says.
“Most members of the Council work at the same time as they have their municipal obligations; so, it will, most likely, be fine,” Björn Åhlin says.
Photo: Archive, Jens Hunt.
A youth list from Nya Moderaterna payed off
Among the five parties that got students elected into the Municipal Council, Nya Moderaterna has the most young representatives with four members. Before the election, the party decided to reintroduce a separate list with only younger representatives.
“We are happy with the decision to have two separate lists. The reintroduction of the list for young representatives resulted in an increased activity among students, and it helped us to make the most of the election campaign,” Mats Helmfrid, the retiring municipal commissioner from Nya Moderaterna, says.
Elin Gustafsson, the only student representing Socialdemokraterna, says that her party has not planned to create its own separate list of younger representatives.
“Our election committee work with other methods to produce candidates who represent different ages; among other things, our youth league, SSU (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund), has strived hard to make 25 percent of their candidates to be below 35 years of age,” Elin Gustafsson says.
Mats Helmfrid says that it is too early to say if Nya Moderaterna will keep the list of young representatives in the next election.
“The problem with having students in the Municipal Council is that not all of them might stay during the whole term of office. It takes time to learn the working-process before you can start influencing, and it would be a pity if members move during the term of office,” Mats Helmfrid says.
Text: Axel Vikström
Translation: Richard Helander
