According to the Moderates' group leader in the Riksdag, Mattias Karlsson, the reason for the two defections is that the two Moderates ended up far down on the ballot in their party districts ahead of the Riksdag elections this autumn.
"They were outcompeted, did not gain the members' trust to stand for election and thus lost their positions. Now they are looking for a new job and we wish them luck," writes the Moderates' group leader Mattias Karlsson in a comment to TT.
Both Karapet and Marléne Lund Kopparklint state that they would have changed parties regardless of their placement on the Moderate Party's ballot.
Much needed
"It's not like I'm going to end up in an elected position with SD either," says Karapet, who will be running for SD on a Stockholm list.
"I end up on the list for one of the constituencies where SD has the lowest support. It will take an extremely large amount of work to get elected."
Karapet says he is closer to SD than M on migration and integration issues, but also says he supports a more generous unemployment fund than M does.
Marléne Lund Kopparklint states that she began considering changing parties during the Värmland Moderates' nomination process ahead of the parliamentary elections.
"It's no secret that there were disputes. Then I thought: are disputes what I want to focus on, or are there substantive issues?" says Lund Kopparklint.
Big chances
She is committed to issues of child safety with a focus on sexual crimes against children and believes that she has greater opportunities to push for necessary reforms in SD.
"My values are closer to SD," says Lund Kopparklint.
The idea is that she will be on SD's Värmland list in third place, excluding party leader Jimmie Åkesson, who tops all the party's ballots. According to Lund Kopparklint, this means a great chance of entering parliament.
Lund Kopparklint and Karapet were both elected to the Riksdag for M in 2018 and have so far held seats on the Traffic Committee and the Labor Market Committee, respectively.
