Sweden’s far-right party will become a power broker in the upcoming election
Party leaders for the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Åkesson and Jessica Stegrud participate in a campaign meeting in Västerås. /TT news agency/Reuters
Party leaders for the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Åkesson and Jessica Stegrud participate in a campaign meeting in Västerås. /TT news agency/Reuters
The far-right Sweden Democrats, once shunned by mainstream parties, look poised to become the main power brokers in the country’s general election on Sunday 11 September. They have been embraced by a right-wing opposition that has come to see them as the key to ending nearly a decade of social democratic rule.
Formed in part by activists with neo-Nazi and white supremacist ties in 1988, the Sweden Democrats have seen support grow in the 12 years since the party first entered parliament as its leader Jimmie Åkesson toned down its extremist image.
“Those who founded our party are no longer participating,” he said.
“Most disappeared already after one or two years. So the Sweden Democrats today are something different from what was founded around 30 years ago.”
The 43-year-old has tapped into voters’ concerns about rising gang violence, which the government says is linked to poor integration of many of the two million “new Swedes” who have arrived in the past two decades, bringing the Swedish population to just over 10 million.
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Opinion polls show that Åkesson’s party is at around 20 percent, far behind the Social Democrats but ahead of the Moderates, a traditional right-wing leader whose leader Ulf Kristersson is expected to become prime minister if the bloc wins the election.
Such a win would give Akesson unprecedented influence over the new government.
“It’s time for the Swedish people to give us a chance,” Åkesson told the crowd of several hundred on a recent weekday evening. “It’s time to give us a chance to make Sweden great again.”
![](https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2022-09-10/Sweden-s-far-right-party-set-to-be-power-brokers-in-upcoming-election-1ddrJ8E32cE/img/9d3440ba1dfa4dd2831801509cd41724/9d3440ba1dfa4dd2831801509cd41724.jpeg)
Sweden’s Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, meets her opponent Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderates in a political debate on Sveriges Television in Uppsala. /TT news agency/Reuters
Sweden’s Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, meets her opponent Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderates in a political debate on Sveriges Television in Uppsala. /TT news agency/Reuters
The hard-fought election comes at a time when the pressure on Sweden’s economy is growing. With energy costs soaring as a result of Russia’s decision to squeeze gas supplies to Europe, growth is expected to slow next year with recession a distinct possibility.
Inflation is running at a rate not seen since the early 1990s and unemployment and interest rates will rise. At the same time, house prices have already started to fall.
Sweden can become “a fantastic, safe, successful country again”
This should give the right-wing opposition a golden opportunity to return to power after eight years of Social Democratic-led governments.
Having scrapped plans to leave the European Union and never join Nato, the party’s hard line on immigration remains undiminished. It has set out a 30-point program aimed at making Sweden the toughest immigration country in the EU, including legislation that allows people seeking asylum to be denied on religious or LGBT grounds.
They want to reduce economic benefits for immigrants and introduce tougher policing, including visitation zones in troubled areas for house searches without concrete suspicion of crime.
Åkesson said the right-wing bloc – made up of the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates and the smaller Christian Democrats and Liberals – was already broadly aligned on some key issues, such as tougher rules on immigration and law and order.
“The toughest [to solve] becomes economic policy, social security and sickness benefits, there we are more of a center party”, said the leader of the Sweden Democrats.
“We will be very vigilant that this new government does not veer too far to the right on matters of wealth distribution,” he added.
Regardless of the outcome of the election, where Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrat-led bloc and the right-wing opposition are running neck and neck in the latest polls, the Sweden Democrats have already changed Swedish politics.
A survey by Sweden’s TV4 on August 24 showed that 39 percent of respondents would choose Andersson as prime minister against 23 percent who preferred Kristersson, a former social security minister who has led his party since 2017.
“Sweden has been a great country, a safe country, a successful country and it can be all these things again,” Åkesson said.
Deeply divisive
Cracking down on immigration, breaking what was a taboo in Sweden’s political discourse just a decade ago, has forced other parties to adapt.
“It has been very clear in the last five years that the other parties have aligned themselves with us, that they have positioned themselves close to us in order not to lose more voters,” Åkesson said on the sidelines of a campaign meeting.
Although it has won over some voters, the party remains deeply divided in a country that sees itself as a progressive society.
![](https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2022-09-10/Sweden-s-far-right-party-set-to-be-power-brokers-in-upcoming-election-1ddrJ8E32cE/img/3565d61d2db84e308d99417060652fc0/3565d61d2db84e308d99417060652fc0.jpeg)
Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats party in Sweden, speaks to journalists ahead of a debate with other party leaders. /Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP
Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats party in Sweden, speaks to journalists ahead of a debate with other party leaders. /Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP
Nicholas Aylott, associate professor of social sciences at Södertorn University, said that how the Sweden Democrats were viewed by the other parties was still an important factor in the election.
“It’s still a very potent driving force on the left of the spectrum. The parties there make a really big deal out of ever refusing to do business with the Sweden Democrats, and that probably applies to the Center Party more than any other party,” Aylott said.
A “referendum” on the extreme right
The Center Party, traditionally part of the centre-right bloc, has loosely aligned itself with the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Left in a bid to keep the Sweden Democrats out of government – making its leader Annie Loof a bugbear for the far-right.
And after two election defeats in a row, the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have agreed to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, who have said they will support Kristersson as prime minister in exchange for a tougher immigration and order policy.
Kristersson’s decision to court the extreme right has alienated his former allies in the Center Party and many voters.
“In a sense, this is a referendum on the Sweden Democrats,” says Peter Esaiasson, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg.
“There’s a choice you have to make about what’s the most important dimension of politics, is it left-right, or is it the moral dimension and concerns about racism?”
Opinion polls show that the Moderates are losing to the Sweden Democrats for the position as the second largest party after Andersson’s Social Democrats.
While few believe Akesson can become prime minister after 9/11, the chance that he could influence decision-making if the center-right wins a majority may still deter many undecided voters.
The energy crisis, rising inflation and war in Ukraine could help Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson secure another term if Swedes decide to vote for safe hands in Sunday’s parliamentary election.
If Andersson wins, however, it is unlikely that she will have an easy task of forming a new administration – or remaining in power.
Source(s): Reuters