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One more seat for the right camp thanks to the Sweden Democrats. Left Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson resigns.
A tight race with the better outcome for the bourgeoisie: This has become reality three days after the parliamentary elections in Sweden. The camp made up of moderates, right-wing populist Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals won with just one seat ahead of the left-wing bloc that had previously governed.
Andersson resigns
The Social Democrats are clearly the strongest party in parliament, but Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson immediately announced her resignation on Wednesday evening.
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Sweden’s prime minister announced her resignation in Stockholm on Wednesday evening.
Keystone/TT News/Ali Lorestani
In the new parliament, the camp of the previous conservative opposition leader Ulf Kristersson will have 175 seats, the previous red-green government side 174 seats. The right-wing majority only comes about thanks to the Sweden Democrats, who were able to gain enormously.
Right-wing populists on course for victory
It is clear that the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats, with 20 percent the largest fraction in the right-wing camp, will play a very important role in the new balance of power, as Northern Europe correspondent Bruno Kaufmann says in an initial assessment.
For the first time in 50 years, the Conservatives are not the second largest party after the Social Democrats. Then there are the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. According to Kaufmann, however, a clear area of tension is already emerging here. Because the Liberals would only cooperate if the Sweden Democrats were not directly involved in the government.
A long way
The reasons for the success of the Sweden Democrats are complex: For a long time, the party, founded in 1989, was the only force that spoke out against Sweden’s EU membership and was always extremely critical of immigration. At the same time, the party, with its neo-Nazi roots, was excluded when it entered parliament in 2006.
It was only slowly able to build up continuously and has now addressed core voters in other parties with many issues, such as the workers in the Social Democrats, the entrepreneurs in the Conservatives and also the farmers in the rural center.
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Ballone of the Sweden Democrats – Sverigedemokraterna – on September 11, 2022 during the general election in Stockholm.
imago images
Sweden before change of government
As far as a future government formation is concerned, the content of the four parties involved is quite different. But they will quickly find each other when it comes to the campaign issues. For example, in the fight against crime with tougher penalties and more police officers. Agreement was also reached on energy issues and, particularly in view of the energy crisis, the intention was to increasingly rely on nuclear power again.
According to Kaufmann, however, great tension is inevitable when it comes to many social, societal and foreign policy issues. Above all, Liberals and Sweden Democrats have always been opposite poles for years. “If just one of the members of the Liberals or Sweden Democrats loses his nerve when the mandates are distributed, the majority is gone again,” says Kaufmann.
If the conservative party leader UlfKriersson succeeds in forming a coalition, Sweden will face a turning point from centre-left to explicitly right-wing. This has never happened before.
Kaufmann estimates that Sweden will continue to struggle with the strong Sweden Democrats. After all, almost 80 percent of Swedes still did not vote for the right-wing populists. If the conservative party leader Ulf Kristersson succeeds in forming a functioning coalition, Sweden faces a political turning point: from centre-left to explicitly right-wing. That has never happened before.