Party leaks to the media coincide with internal conflicts

Previous research on whistleblowing and leaks has primarily focused on public authorities, companies, and organizations, not on political parties.

“At the same time, we know that the media often depend on internal sources to uncover party scandals,” says Andreas Bågenholm, Senior Lecturer in Political Science.

Together with other researchers at the University of Gothenburg, he has examined when and why party members in Sweden leak information about misconduct within their own parties to the media. Rather than focusing on the scandals themselves, the study concentrates on the timing of the leaks and what this timing reveals about internal power struggles.

The study covers all Swedish political parties at both the national and local levels and includes 175 identified cases of internal party revelations reported in the Swedish printed press during the period 2010–2024.

“The results show that the number of media revelations more than doubled during the period when parties were finalizing their electoral lists. Once the lists were finalized, leaks declined markedly,” says Andreas Bågenholm.

Leaks often occur with political intent

The study also shows that leaks were more common when parties were losing voter support. The worse a party performed in opinion polls compared to the previous election, the more revelations reached the media. This pattern changed once public support began to recover.

“For every percentage point improvement in opinion support, the likelihood of new revelations decreased by around 9 percent.”

The researchers conclude that leaks from internal party sources often occur with political intent, at least indirectly.

“Even if leaks may be motivated by ethics or the public interest, the systematic timing of the revelations suggests that they are used as a tool in internal power struggles – to damage internal rivals, influence nominations, and change the party’s direction when voter support declines,” says Andreas Bågenholm.

More information

The researchers categorized the internal party revelations into three types:

• internal problems related to power struggles, working conditions, and internal processes
• individual or private misconduct by politicians, such as sexual harassment
• abuse of public office, for example corruption or abuse of power.

Over the 14 years studied, covering 349 newspaper articles, this type of revelation occurred on 175 occasions.

Referens: 
Leaking season: An analysis of the timing of media disclosures from party insiders in Sweden 2010-2024 - Andreas Bågenholm, Stephen Dawson, Birgitta Niklasson, Jenny De Fine Licht, Elsa Höök, 2026

Contact information
Andreas Bågenholm, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, phone: +46 766-18 12 24, E-mail: andreas.bagenholm@pol.gu.se