The far right is achieving unprecedented results (Jessica Guo/AFP)
The Swedish Prime Minister announced, Magdalena AndersonOn Wednesday, she would submit her resignation following an unprecedented bloc of the right and the far-right won Sunday’s elections with a narrow majority.
Out of 349 seats in the Swedish Parliament, the right-wing opposition bloc is expected to win 176 seats thanks to the lead of the Sweden Democrats. far-rightfollowing counting more than 99 percent of the districts.
“The majority is small, but it is a majority,” Anderson said at a press conference, adding, “So tomorrow (Thursday) I will submit my resignation as prime minister. The responsibility for continuing the process will be entrusted to the Speaker of Parliament.”
Preliminary results showed a close rapprochement, and officials waited for the counting of the votes of tens of thousands of voters abroad and others made earlier to confirm the results.
‘Let’s make Sweden great once more’
Never before has a Swedish government counted on the support of the anti-immigration nationalist Sweden Democrats, which emerged as the biggest winner in an election, with an improvement of more than three percentage points compared to previous elections.
With the majority of votes counted, the party came second following the Social Democrats, which has dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s.
But the post of prime minister will likely go to conservative “Moderate” leader Ulf Christerson, given that “Sweden Democrats” leader Jimmy Akesson is unable to unite the four parties to lead the government.
“I now begin the task of forming a new and strong government,” Christerson said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Kristerson, a former gymnast, took a major turn for his party when he began preliminary 2019 talks with the Sweden Democrats and then cemented their collaboration.
Later Christian Democrats and, to a lesser extent, liberals followed suit.
At the same time, the controversy over the appointment of the far-right in ministerial positions has not been resolved, which Akesson said Sunday evening is their “goal.”
In comments posted on Facebook, Akesson thanked “Sweden’s friends” across the country.
“Now the work begins to restore greatness to Sweden,” the party leader said.
The Sweden Democrats emerged from a group of neo-Nazis and the Save Sweden Identity movement when it was formed in the early 1990s. He entered parliament in 2010, winning 5.7 percent of the vote.
A difficult situation
The Sweden Democrats has long been a political pariah, but it has improved its position with each new election as part of its efforts to polish its image.
His hardline stances on issues such as criminality, bloody gang settlement and integration problems dominated this year’s election campaign.
The small majority also means that a right-wing government’s control of power will be very fragile, as the positions of the four parties strongly contradict on a number of issues, especially the “liberals” and “Sweden Democrats”.
“It’s a difficult parliamentary situation,” Michael Gilliam, a political affairs expert at the University of Gothenburg, told AFP. “And then there are the parties that don’t like each other, the Sweden Democrats and the Liberals” in the same right-wing bloc.
In a situation like this, a few disgruntled MPs can tip the balance of power.
Behind the Sweden Democrats, who won 73 seats, 11 more than the previous elections in 2018, the moderates got 68 seats (two fewer), the Christian Democrats got 19 (three fewer) and the liberals got 16. (Four seats less).
In the left-wing bloc, the Social Democrats won 107 seats (seven more) with 30.3 percent of the vote, ahead of the Left and Center parties (24 seats each) and the Green Party (18 seats).
The process of political change will not begin until Anderson announces her resignation Thursday.
Then the Speaker of the House of Representatives might assign Ulf Christerson the task of forming a majority from the four parties, paving the way for a period of negotiations.
It is not possible to choose a prime minister before September 27 at the earliest, with the opening of the parliament session.
(AFP)
