’Everyone should be included in the new green people’s home’

A politolinguistic study of the Swedish Green Party’s 2022 election campaign

Abstract

This paper analyses the Swedish Green Party's 2022 election campaign, focusing on the topics, key concepts, and linguistic resources used. Using politolinguistic theory and methodology, the study analyses linguistic and visual representations from the party's election manifesto, campaign film, posters, and social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter prior to the election. While the climate issue was central to the Green Party's communication, the party also expanded its political profile to include an explicit promise of strengthened welfare for vulnerable populations, e.g. by recontextualising social democratic language. The party condensed its political vision into the keyword the new green people's home. The apocalyptic argumentation patterns used in the 2018 election were replaced by a more optimistic and inclusive slogan Everyone should be included when Sweden changes. The party's broadened profile was communicated through media appearances and campaign materials, while social media posts tended to target core voters by emphasizing the climate issue.