Nightmare for Brussels as Swedes turn to far right
Former fascist party poised to hold balance of power in poll shock
SWEDISH voters turned their backs on more than a century of socialist rule last night, leaving a far-right party holding the balance of power.
The anti-immigration, anti-Brussels Sweden Democrats – who have their roots in a 1990s white supremacist party – were projected to win one in five votes, according to an exit poll.
Public service broadcaster SVT’s survey said the party, led by charismatic former web designer and self-confessed online gambling addict Jimmie Akesson, had secured 19.2% of the vote, up from 12.9% four years ago.
During his campaign, Mr Akesson said he would campaign to take Sweden out of the European Union unless Brussels granted it major concessions – of the type denied to Britain in David Cameron’s renegotiation of terms in 2016.
Yesterday’s election result therefore increases the chances of Sweden becoming the second country to leave the EU – dubbed ‘Swexit’ – after Britain departs in March of next year.
Neither of the two main alliances in the country were expected to win a majority.
The controversial Sweden Democrats were projected to be the second-largest party in the country’s parliament, the Riksdag.
Due to its origins in the fascist ‘Keep Sweden Swedish’ movement, the party has until now been treated as a pariah by other groups in the country’s system of coalition government.
The centre-right Alliance coalition – led by the conservative Moderates – was projected to be the largest group, with 39.6%, the SVT poll said.
If confirmed by the count taking place last night, even that result would represent a rejection of Sweden’s traditional left-leaning politics. The left-wing Social Democrats – who had been in power for the vast majority of the country’s history since the 1930s – were projected to win 26.2%.
Combined with their three coalition allies, the Social Democrats would be marginally behind the centre-right Alliance with a projected 39.4%, the SVT exit poll showed. The result means the make-up of the next government now hangs on coalition negotiations of a type unseen in modern Swedish history – meaning the outcome is impossible to predict.
It could take weeks for a deal to be struck, if at all. As three-quarters of votes had been counted at 10pm last night, ongoing actual vote results showed a slightly different picture. The centre-left coalition had secured 40.6% of the vote versus the centre-right’s 40.2% – and the Sweden Democrats were the third largest party with 17.7%, behind the Moderates’ 19.7%.
During a bitter campaign, Mr Akesson blamed the former government led by the Social Democrats’ Stefan Lofven for ‘prioritising’ the rights of asylum seekers over native Swedes. The country allowed in Europe’s highest number of refugees per capita during the 2015 migrant crisis – 163,000 in a nation of 10million – and a total of 400,000 since 2012. ‘The government we have had now, they have prioritised asylum seekers,’ Mr Akesson said during one of his final rallies on Saturday.
‘Sweden needs breathing space. We need tight, responsible immigration policies.’
As voting began yesterday, outgoing prime minister Mr Lofven condemned the ‘hateful forces’ behind the swing to the right, and urged voters to ‘stand on the right side of history’.