FAR-Right Party Holds Balance of Power in Sweden Post Election

[Magda Hassan]

Swedish far right wins first seats in parliament

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said his party had been treated unfairly in the election
A far-right party in Sweden has won seats in parliament for the first time, denying the governing centre-right coalition an overall majority.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats have won 20 of the 349 seats in the country's single assembly, following Sunday's general election.
The alliance led by centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt fell short of a clear victory with 172 seats.
Mr Reinfeldt says he will seek the support of the opposition Green Party.
The Greens are currently allied with the centre-left Social Democrats.


Green Party co-chair Maria Wetterstrand said the opposition bloc - which won 157 seats - remained united.
Mr Reinfeldt also did not rule out working with the Social-Democrats.
"On many questions there is a possibility for broader co-operation," he told reporters. "Not seldom have agreements been made between Social Democrats and alliance parties, but I can't really say more about that, if there is any room for that now."
However the prime minister reiterated that his four-party Alliance for Sweden would not form a coalition with the far-right.
"I have been clear on how we will handle this uncertain situation," he said. "We will not co-operate, or become dependent on, the Sweden Democrats".
'Media boycott' Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said his party would use the opportunity to make itself heard, as it had not been invited to official debates during the campaign.
"We have in many ways been treated as anything but a political party in this election," he said.
"Even so, today we stand here with a fantastic result. The situation is a bit uncertain just now, but we have four years ahead of us to speak out on the issues that matter to us and influence Swedish politics."
PM Fredrik Reinfeldt says he will not make a deal with the far-right
BBC regional reporter Damien McGuinness said the success of the far right has shocked many voters in Sweden.
Winning 20 seats in parliament, the Sweden Democrats have obviously touched a nerve, he adds.
The party appears to have tapped into voter dissatisfaction over immigration, says our correspondent, with the result undermining the image of Sweden as a tolerant and open-minded country.
Mr Reinfeldt can remain in office, but only as a minority government, which although not that unusual in Sweden, does mean he will have to win over other parties to push through bills.
Immigrants make up 14% of the country's population of 9.4 million.
The Social Democrats have ruled Sweden for 65 of the past 78 years, and are credited with setting up the country's generous welfare state.
Conceding defeat on Sunday, party leader Mona Sahlin said they had not been able to win back voters' confidence.
"The Alliance is the largest majority. It is now up to Fredrick Reinfeldt how he plans to rule Sweden without letting the Sweden Democrats get political influence."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11367622

[Peter Lemkin]

First Denmark started to veer to the Right; next came Norway; now Sweden. Sweden, however, always had quite a strong 'right' that was kept mostly hidden and repressed by the rest of society. It came out in the assassinations there; and earlier in their 'neutral' lean toward the Axis during WW2, etc. Sad.

[Peter Lemkin]

Swedish far-right party holds balance of power

20/09/2010 - 08:49:29
A far-right party holds the balance of power in Sweden after winning seats in parliament for the first time in elections yesterday.

The surge by the anti-Islam Sweden Democrats plunged the country into political disarray.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was seeking to become the first centre-right leader to win re-election after serving a full term in a Scandinavian welfare nation dominated for decades by the left-wing Social Democrats.

But the Sweden Democrats won 5.7% of the votes to gain 20 seats in the 349-seat legislature, according to preliminary results.

Final official results are expected later this week.

Reinfeldt’s four-party coalition won 172 seats, three short of a majority, while the left-wing opposition got 157 seats.

His coalition has been boosted by popular tax cuts and healthy public finances.

The 45-year-old prime minister said his government would stay in office and seek support from the small opposition Green Party, to avoid having to rely on the Sweden Democrats.

“I have been clear on how we will handle this uncertain situation: We will not cooperate, or become dependent on, the Sweden Democrats,” Reinfeldt said.

Green Party leader Maria Wetterstrand, who campaigned with the Social Democrats and the ex-communist Left Party, at first rejected the idea, saying she couldn’t envision supporting a government “that doesn’t have a climate policy”.

The result suggested a hung Parliament, because both blocs have ruled out governing with the Sweden Democrats, who want sharp cuts in immigration and have called Islam Sweden’s biggest foreign threat since the Second World War.

If Reinfeldt fails to solve the impasse he will be left with a fragile minority government that could be forced to resign if it fails to push crucial legislation through Parliament.

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said his party had “written political history” in the election.

“Party colleagues, we’re in Parliament!” he told jubilant supporters in Stockholm.

Large waves of immigration from the Balkans, Iraq and Iran have changed the demography of the once-homogenous Scandinavian country, and one-in-seven residents are now foreign-born.

The Sweden Democrats say immigration has become an economic burden that drains the welfare system.

But pre-vote polls showed Swedish voters were more concerned about unemployment - at 8.5 % in July – the economy and the environment than they were about immigration.

The Electoral Authority said 82 % of 7.1 million eligible voters turned out for the election.

The Social Democrats fell to a record low of 30.8 % in the vote, just marginally better than the 30 % won by Reinfeldt’s Moderate Party.

“This is an election without winners, and I’m saying that with a heavy heart,” said Social Democrat leader Mona Sahlin.