Keeping the far right out
The tie between the ruling left-wing and the conservatives complicates the formation of a government; both claim they will not work with the far right
Sunday’s elections in Sweden saw the block led by Prime Minister, Social Democrat Stefan Löfven, with his current partners in government, environmentalists, and other groups win a total of 144 seats while the alliance between the Moderate Party conservative of Ulf Kristersson and other right-wing or liberal parties win 143. The problem now is that the far-right Democrats of Sweden (SD) were third, with 62 seats, which theoretically could put Kristersson in power.
The ambitious leader of the extremists, Jimmie Äkersson actually won fewer seats than the polls indicated, predicting his party would come in second behind the Social Democrats and some hinting he could win. On election night, Äkersson was quick to offer talks with Kristersson who so far has ignored the offer. The position of the Moderate’s leader is delicate as the Social Democrats gained a 10 point advantage over his party.
It must be remembered that the complex voting system and recount is slow and there are often changes but in all probability, not enough to see any major upheaval with the overall result.
Äkersson says he is happy with the result but while it shows a continued rise in extremist support, it is lower than expected. Much happier is Stefan Löfven who has held out againsts a Europe-wide trend of setbacks for the left, although only one party in his block made real progress, The Left, which although not forming part of the coalition, has kept the Social Democrats in power so far.
Complex negotiations lie ahead, complicated by the fact that the Swedish PM does not necessarily need an absolute majority to be elected.