Sweden’s centre-right parties are on course to win a narrow majority of 175 seats in the 349-seat parliament after parliamentary elections on Sunday, defeating the centre-left coalition led by the prime minister’s Social Democrats. Magdalena AndersonTo whom the Swedish Electoral Commission allocates 174 parliamentary seats. About 80% of the blocks were counted.
Moderate party leader Ulf Kristerson is expected to become prime minister, while the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats will be the largest right-wing party, gaining direct influence in the Nordic country’s politics for the first time.
A poll published by public channel SVP initially gave victory to the top-voting party, the Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen, with 30.5% of the vote.
But when the votes were counted, the Moderate Party, a right-wing bloc made up of the Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals, moved into the lead by a narrow margin.
The far-right anti-immigration Sweden Democrats could win 20.7% of the vote, 3% more than in elections four years ago, making it the second largest political force behind the moderates in the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament. 19.0%
However, a definitive result may not be known until early Monday morning, and if the race is particularly close, the release of final results may not come until mid-week.
Small changes are at stake in a vote taken by the eight main parliamentary parties that could still determine whether the next government in Stockholm will indeed be led by the centre-right.
“The SVT exit polls have always been perfect since they started doing them,” said Mikael Kiljam, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg, shortly after the poll. “We don’t know if that will be the case this time. But if I had to bet my money on anyone, it would be on the left,” he added.
Another poll by private channel TV4 initially gave center-left parties 50.6% of the vote, while right-wing parties got 48%.
Crime and Immigration
The election campaign was marked by themes favorable to the right-wing opposition, such as rising violent crime, immigration and rising energy prices.
Pediatrician Eric George, 52, is in no doubt that the election campaign has been dominated by rising populism. “We’re living in very turbulent times and I think it’s hard for people to understand what’s going on,” he told Reuters before the vote.
“I fear the arrival of a repressive and far-right government,” said Malin Eriksson, 53, a travel consultant as he left a polling station in central Stockholm, fearing an upsurge in Sweden’s Democrats led by Jimmy Akesson.
With law and order dominating the rhetoric of the right, the Social Democratic Party bet during the campaign on the economy, namely rising energy prices and the potential hardships families and companies could face.
“I voted for Sweden, where we continue to focus on our strengths. Our ability to deal with society’s problems together, our sense of community and mutual respect,” Magdalena Andersen said after voting in a Stockholm suburb.
Andersson was finance minister for several years before becoming Sweden’s prime minister a year ago. His main rival from the start, Ulf Kristerson, leader of the Moderate Party, saw himself as the only politician who could unite the right and provide an alternative to the centre-left. “If the people vote for change, we will comply,” Christerson told Reuters at one of his last campaign rallies.
In recent years, Kristerson has deepened ties with the Swedish Democratic Party, formed in 1988 in fascist and neo-Nazi circles and with white supremacists among its founders.
“Whatever happens tonight, the most important thing for me, for us, for all Sweden Democrats across the country, is the 175 parliamentary seats, with which we can finally bring about a change of power and our pro-Sweden policy. ,” Akesson told his supporters yesterday.