STOCKHOLM, August 23 (Reuters) – Sweden’s Social Democrats will elect a new leader in November to replace Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who needs to find a flag bearer who can convince voters that the party can stop a flood of gang violence and restore the welfare state after the pandemic.

Lofven, which leads a minority government, will resign less than a year before the September 2022 election. Surveys so far show an even split between a broad left-wing group and a right-wing opposition alliance between parties, including right-wing extremist, populist Sweden Democrats.

Lofven relies to varying degrees on the support of the Greens, the former Communist Left and the Liberal Center Party, who abandoned their allies on the right after the 2018 election over their willingness to work with the far right.

The successor to Lofven, who has been known as a dealmaker but a sloppy campaigner, will probably have to follow a similar thread – at the same time as he rebuilds the economy after the corona pandemic and deals with the breakwater.

“Sweden has some major challenges going on,” says Nick Aylott, associate professor of political science at Sodertorn University. “The greatest is law and order.”

Shootings have become an almost daily occurrence in cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, and the far right has succeeded in linking violence to the generous immigration policy of recent decades. Read more

Sweden has tightened immigration, but support for the Sweden Democrats has still increased, with opinion polls showing law and order a key issue ahead of next year’s vote.

Before that, however, the next Prime Minister will face an immediate crisis over how the budget will go through.

BUDGET MATCH

The Left Party has threatened not to support a financial account if it is not allowed to influence politics, a dealbreaker for the center-right Center Party. Read more

Should the bill fail in November, Sweden may face a quick election, a constant threat in recent years when the government jerked from crisis to crisis. Read more

There is still no investigation into who succeeds Lofven, whose announcement on Sunday that he would resign received many unexpected.

The nominee must face a parliamentary vote, but provided that parliamentary mathematics remains the same as in a vote of confidence in Lofven in July, they would scrape in. Read more

Among those tipped to take over are Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson and Minister of Health Lena Hallengren, which means that Sweden can have its first female premiere. Although they are proud of their record of gender equality, the country has never been led by a woman.

“Magdalena Andersson is an obvious candidate and one who has shown high political competence,” says Magnus Hagevi, professor of political science at Linnaeus University.

Andersson has previously said that she did not want the top job.

Other challengers include Minister of the Interior Mikael Damberg, Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson and Minister of Energy Anders Ygeman.

In addition to dealing with the contradictory demands of parties that have been behind the current coalition, Lofven’s successors must accelerate the transition to a carbon-free future.

Sweden aims to reach zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2045.

At the same time, the high death rate among the elderly from COVID-19 has underlined the need for a review of a very cherished but terrible welfare state. Read more

Reporting by Simon Johnson; Edited by Niklas Pollard and Alison Williams

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