A nationalist party condemned by Sweden’s centre-left government as “neo-fascists” has become the country’s second largest, pushing the opposition right to a slim lead in a parliamentary election still far away about to call them.
A preliminary result is not expected until Wednesday, but with 94 percent of votes counted, the right-wing bloc held a lead of less than one percentage point over the center-left group led by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, shunned for most of the past decade, are sure to be the biggest party on the right, behind only Andersson’s Social Democrats, who have topped every election since 1917.
“Our ambition is to sit in government,” said Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats.
The party, which has its roots in the neo-Nazi movement, was scorned by all other parties until the last parliament, when its tough law and order and immigration policies began to gain support from the centre-right.
An unusually tough campaign focused on gang crime and immigration after a record number of deadly shootings in troubled suburbs pushed Sweden to the top of those statistics in Europe.
Magdalena Andersson © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
If the right-wing leadership is confirmed, the group’s four parties will face an uphill task in forming a coherent government due to a split majority and infighting.
Ulf Kristersson, leader of the center-right moderates, who fell to third place for the first time since 1976, is the favorite to become prime minister but will face an emboldened nationalist party that received more votes.
“I am ready to do everything possible to create a new, stable and effective government for all of Sweden and all citizens,” he said on Monday morning.
Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer at Södertörn University, called the results “historic” for the Sweden Democrats and said it would be an “absolute body blow” for the moderates. He added: “A stable, strong and decisive government should probably not be expected [from the election]but neither is chaos.”
The country’s politics have been tumultuous since the Sweden Democrats came to parliament in 2010. The ruling Social Democrats have twice been forced to govern on right-wing opposition budgets, while Andersson herself had of resigning as prime minister last year after only seven hours in government. position, before being re-elected a week later.
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The Social Democrats campaigned less on issues and more on the image of Andersson, who only became prime minister in November and is by far the country’s most popular politician.
Two of the biggest recent controversies, whether Sweden should join NATO and the country’s handling of Covid-19, barely featured in a campaign that was instead defined by tough promises on immigration and crime and an intense focus of late on sky-high electricity prices.
Despite ruling for eight years, the Social Democrats increased their vote share to 30.5%, more than 2 percentage points higher than in 2018. The Sweden Democrats were the biggest winners, increasing their share of more than 3 percentage points to 20.7%, while the Moderates fell back slightly to 19.1 percent.
The five smallest parties in parliament on the left and right will retain their status after scoring 4-7 percent each.