Far-right wins in hotly contested vote
When one fringe party was fended off by others across the political spectrum, preliminary results showed that the Sweden Democrats received almost 21% of the vote.
Maja Suslin Afp | Getty Images
A group of right-wing political parties took a razor-thin lead in Sweden’s parliamentary elections, according to early results, and appear to be on course to defeat a left-wing bloc led by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Exit polls Sunday initially predicted a narrow victory for Andersson’s ruling center Social Democrats and their allies, although the figure has since swung to the political right as partial results were released throughout the evening.
After about 95% of the votes had been counted on Monday morning, a right-wing bloc of four parties, led by Ulf Kristersson’s centre-moderates, had a total of 175 seats, with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party set to record its best election result to date. .
The four parties that support Andersson as prime minister meanwhile looked set to win 174 seats.
If these results are confirmed, it means the right-wing party has secured a parliamentary majority that could pave the way for the bloc to try to form a government.
A decisive result is not expected until Wednesday at the earliest, with postal ballots and votes from citizens living abroad still to be counted.
There are a total of eight parties (four on the right; four on the left) competing for seats in Sweden’s Riksdag with 349 seats.
Sunday’s preliminary results indicate that the Social Democrats secured 30.5% of the vote, confirming their position as the largest party. Andersson may, however, have to fight to remain in power as a result of the extreme right-wing Sweden Democrats making substantial gains.
Sweden, a Scandinavian country of around 10.5 million, has a reputation as one of Europe’s most progressive states and consistently ranks among the happiest nations in the world.
The rise of the right
Andersson became Sweden’s first ever female prime minister last year.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
The Sweden Democrats grew out of the country’s neo-Nazi movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s and have since struggled to distance themselves from accusations of extremism. The party won representation in the Riksdag for the first time in 2010 with 5.7% of the vote.
A gradual increase in national support subsequently led the center party Moderates to embrace cooperation with the Sweden Democrats in 2018. Kristersson’s Moderates had previously ruled out negotiating with the right-wing party.
“A Tragedy in Many Acts”
In Sunday’s preliminary results, the Moderates received 19.1 percent of the vote, with leader Kristersson likely to be the right-wing bloc’s preferred prime ministerial candidate.
“We don’t know what the result will be,” Kristersson told supporters, It was reported by Reuters. “But I am ready to do everything I can to form a new, stable and powerful government for all of Sweden and all its citizens.”
Sony Kapoor, a climate and macroeconomics professor at the European University Institute, said via Twitter that the preliminary results suggest the Sweden Democrats would become the country’s largest party on the political right and potentially elect the next prime minister.
“This is a tragedy in many acts,” Kapoor said.