Sveriges Radio International reports that the centre-right party of prime minister
Fredrik Reinfeldt gained a historic 30 per cent of the vote in the Swedish parliamentary election. However, the three other parties of the governing Alliance – Liberals, Centre Party and Christian Democrats – lost seats, so the preliminary results point to 172 seats out of 349, three less than an outright majority.
The Social Democrats remained the largest party, with 30.9 per cent of the vote, but losing 4.4 percentage points since 2006.
The nationalistic and xenophobic Sweden Democrats cleared the
five [Correction] four per cent hurdle, and get 20 seats in the new parliament (Riksdag).
Reinfeldt has proposed cooperation with the Green Party, which campaigned against the government coalition together with the Social Democrats and the Left Party.
The Pirate Party failed to clear the hurdle.
Ralf Grahn
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(Muß mal die Mehrsprachigkeit auf die Probe stellen. :))
ReplyDeleteIn Schweden gilt eine 4-Prozent-Hürde, keine 5-Prozent-Hürde. Bei dieser Wahl macht das allerdings keinen Unterschied, weil es keine Partei zwischen 4 und 5 Prozent gibt.
chi,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was careless. Thank you for noticing. I'll make a correction.
So! Disgust with the EU now disrupts even the safe and cosy world of Scandinavia.
ReplyDeleteCan we expect some recognition of the disaster that the EU has caused and its so obvious failings even on this blog in the near future?
Martin Cole,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right when you imply that there is a European trend towards the rise of populist political parties on the right.
You seem to draw quite extreme conclusions from the 5.7 per cent share of the vote in Sweden for the anti-immigration right party.
The nationalistic and xenophoic right hates many things, including the European Union, but that does not mean that the EU has caused major disasters.
On the contrary, the weakness of the EU, the absence of visionary leadership from the state leaders and its lack of fully functioning democracy sap at the roots of the security and prosperity of EU citizens in a globalising world.
These are the failings this blog aims to return to.
Naturally, it is problematic that Sweden has no clear government majority at the moment, perhaps for the next four years.
Ralf, good reply to Martin Cole. More than 94% of voters did not give their votes to the populist Sweden Democrats. And it was not based on their position on EU but their position on immigration. They were perceived to have better immigration policy proposals, partly because the other parties didn't want to discuss with a party fundamentally different values and naive policy suggestions based on incorrect facts. I.e. a populist party.. :)
ReplyDeleteKallisti,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your supportive comment.
The election result, including the rise of the Sweden Democrats, remains problematic, since there is no government majority.
The rise of the Sweden Democrats, the True Finns in Finland and similar political parties all over Europe shows that there is much confusion regarding migration, immigration, asylum seekers and genuine refugees.
Less fortunate parts of the population tend to lump all foreigners together as threats, especially in hard times.
It is real challenge for governments to act responsibly and to learn to communicate with the voters in an effective manner.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteCan I link to this post please?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteNaturally you can link to this and other posts on this blog.