The far right appears close to causing an earthquake in Swedish politics, with the Sweden Democrats becoming the country’s second-largest party while the wider rightwing bloc that it leads has edged towards victory over the incumbent centre-left.
Exit polls on Sunday night at first suggested a narrow victory for the Social Democrats and their centre-left allies.
But as the votes were counted the tally swung towards the right. With more than 90 per cent of the vote counted, the right bloc of four parties had a share of the vote corresponding to 176 of 349 seats in parliament, with the left bloc trailing on 173.
A conclusive result may not be known until votes from Swedes living abroad are counted in the middle of the week, while the closeness of the race may yet complicate the formation of a working government.
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The leader of Sweden’s anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) early on Monday said the rightwing bloc of political parties was likely headed for victory following Sunday’s election for parliament. “Right now it looks like there will be a change of power,” SD leader Jimmie Åkesson said in a speech to party members.
The incumbent Social Democrat prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, told cheering supporters on Sunday night: “We’re not going to have a final result tonight”. Ms Andersson (55) called on Swedes to “have patience” and “let democracy run its course”.
The prospect that the far-right Sweden Democrats, who appeared to take more than 20 per cent of the poll, may for the first time achieve direct influence over government policy marks a seismic shift in a country far better known for its liberal traditions.
The SD emerged from Sweden’s neo-Nazi movement in the mid-1990s and still struggles to shake off accusations of extremism. It was treated as a pariah by other parties but three years ago, the centre-right Moderate party embraced co-operation with the far right.
The SD has increased its vote at each of the past nine general elections. Its leaders are now demanding ministerial office, but the other three parties in the bloc have said they will not invite the party into government itself. However, the SD’s position as the largest party on the right places them in a strong position.
Mr Åkesson of he SD told a crowd of supporters on Sunday evening: “Our goal is to sit in government. Our goal is a majority government. It’s looking pretty damn good now.”
The party secretary, Richard Jomshof, told public television SVT he “didn’t believe” other parties would be able to freeze out the Sweden Democrats again and expected to have a strong influence on the country’s politics.
At the height of the campaign, the SD billed a metro train decorated in its electoral colours as the “repatriation express”. “Welcome aboard with a one-way ticket. Next stop, Kabul,” tweeted the party’s legal spokesperson, highlighting the SD’s demand to remove non-European immigrants.
The election has revealed Sweden to be a nation deeply ill at ease with immigration, with the SD able to exploit fears over violent crime. Voter concerns such as energy price rises, failing schools and long queues for healthcare were drowned out by a relentless focus on immigration and crime.
The campaign was punctuated by further incidents of gang violence, the prevalence of which during the past five years — and the failure of government and the police to prevent it — has helped the SD to cement support for its central message that immigration is to blame.
Party leaders on both left and right linked the rise in violent crime with large-scale immigration, which has led to high levels of segregation in the housing and jobs markets.
In the space of a few decades, Sweden has become one of the most multicultural societies in Europe, with more than a third of the population having been born abroad or having a parent who was born abroad. About 30 per cent of children do not have Swedish as their mother tongue, rising to 45 per cent in parts of the cities. — Guardian