Sweden faces deadlock after rightwing gains
STOCKHOLM: Sweden headed for a hung Parliament after an election yesterday that had support for the nationalist Sweden Democrats surging, as one of Europe’s most liberal nations turned right amid fears over immigration.
Farright parties have made spectacular gains throughout Europe in recent years as anxieties grow over national identity and the effects of globalisation and immigration following armed conflict in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Sweden, an influx of 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 — the most in Europe in relation to the country’s population of 10 million — has polarised voters and fractured the longstanding political consensus.
With almost all districts having reported, the ruling centreleft Social Democrats and Greens and their Left Party parliamentary allies had 40.6% of the vote, while the opposition centreright Alliance was at 40.3%.
That gave the centreleft 144 seats in the 349seat Parliament against 142 for the Alliance, suggesting weeks of uncertainty before a government can be formed.
The Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the white supremacist fringe, won 17.6% and 63 seats, up from 12.9% and 49 seats in the last election four years ago, the biggest gain by any party in Sweden’s Parliament, the Riksdag.
While the results fell short of leader Jimmie Akesson’s predictions of 20% of the vote or more, he told a party rally it was nevertheless the winner of the election.
‘‘We will gain huge influence over what happens in Sweden during the coming weeks, months and years,’’ Akesson told party colleagues.
Akesson hopes his party, which wants Sweden to leave the European Union and freeze immigration, can play a decisive role in negotiations over forming a government.
He called on Ulf Kristersson, the centreright Alliance’s candidate for the premiership, to choose between seeking support from the Sweden Democrats for an Alliance government or to accept another four years of Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
Kristersson called on Lofven to resign, but rebuffed Akesson.
‘‘We have been completely clear during the whole election. The Alliance will not govern or discuss how to form a government with the Sweden Democrats,’’ he said.
The Sweden Democrats, shunned by all the other parties since entering Parliament in 2010, have promised to sink any Cabinet that refuses to give them a say in policy, particularly on immigration. —