Sweden holds a general election on Sunday that promises to be ultra-tough and with the far right better positioned than ever, after a campaign dominated by the issues of gang wars, health care and immigrant integration.
Until a few years ago isolated in the political landscape of the Scandinavian country, the nationalist and anti-immigration party of the Swedish Democrats (SD), can now ally with the traditional right and be part of an agreement in Parliament to form a government.
Heir to a neo-Nazi group at the end of the 80s, the party at the time collected less than 1% of the voting intentions and only entered Parliament in 2010, but the social problems that afflict Swedish society this Friday forced it to position this Friday as the third or even second largest party.
Deaths in the settling of scores between criminal gangs, which has become a serious social problem, top the concerns of Swedes, polls show, followed by health care and immigration.
Despite several measures taken by the Social Democratic Party (S) government against the gangs, including harsher sentences and increased police capacity, deaths and injuries continue to mount: since January 1, 48 people have been shot dead, three more than the total. of 2021.
In this context, with an anti-immigration discourse combined with the defense of the traditional welfare state, the SD managed to win over the working classes, retirees and the less qualified.
Swedish elections have always been about the welfare state, the economy and employment, but these have been “erased”, in addition to the issue of gang crimes fighting for control of the drug and arms market, the issue of immigration/integration, which has generated one of the main controversies during the campaign.
Integration and Migration Minister Anders Ygeman made a statement arguing that in certain areas non-Nordic residents should be limited to 50 percent, drawing criticism from left-wing parties and the Center Party, whose leader Annie Lööf spoke out against the idea of “ethnic quotas”.
Six years later, faced with the strong wave of immigration, the Social Democrats changed their position on this issue, the Prime Minister, Madalena Andersson, then defended her minister and toughened her speech on the need for integration.
The Social Democrats, he said, oppose “ethnic groups” and do not want “Chinatown in Sweden”nor “Somalia or Little Italy” and defend “a society where people with different origins, experiences and incomes coexist and meet”.
In the latest polls, the Social Democrats (S) obtain between 28.5% and 30% of voting intentions, compared to a historical low of 28.3% in 2018, but still ahead of the SD (between 18 .8% and 19.8%). that in some surveys they exceed the Moderate (M), who collect between 17.6% and 18.1%.
Although there are still uncertainties about the results, the rapprochement between the right and the extreme right has reduced the debate on who could form the government in Sweden to two blocs.
A likely post-election alliance brings together the Social Democrats currently in power with the Greens, the Left Party (ex-communist) and the Center Party, with this more left-wing bloc holding between 48.6% and 52.6% of the votes, according to the most recent polls.
The right/far right block would encompass the conservative party of the Moderates (M), allied with the Liberals (L) and the Christian Democrats (KD)with the direct or indirect support of the extreme right of the Swedish Democrats (SD), who together have between 47.1% and 49.6% of the voting intentions.
Outgoing Prime Minister Madalena Andersson, in office for a year after succeeding Stefan Löfven, who resigned after seven years in office, remains the party leader most trusted by voters to remain in office, with 55% of positive opinions, far. ahead of his moderate conservative rival, Ulf Kristersson (32%), but analysts predict that the election results will lead to long and difficult negotiations to form a government.
The previous elections, in 2018, led to a long political crisis, with four months to form a minority government led by the Social Democrats.
Sweden, which is in the process of joining NATO and will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, has been ruled since 2014 by the Social Democrats, the country’s main party since the 1930s.
Source: Observadora
