The far right is achieving unprecedented results (Jessica Guo / AFP)
The Swedish Prime Minister announced Maddalena AndersonHe allegedly resigned on Wednesday after an unprecedented blockade 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 leadership of the Swedish Democrats. extreme rightafter counting more than 99 percent of the districts.
“The majority is small, but it is a majority,” Anderson said at the press conference, adding: “So tomorrow (Thursday) I will resign as prime minister. The responsibility for continuing the process will rest with the President of Parliament.”
Preliminary results showed a close rapprochement, and officials awaited the vote count of tens of thousands of overseas voters and others made earlier to confirm the results.
“Let’s make Sweden great again”
Never before has a Swedish government counted on the backing of anti-immigration nationalist Swedish Democrats, who emerged as the biggest winner in an election, up more than three percentage points from previous elections.
With the majority of votes counted, the party came second after the Social Democrats, who have dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s.
But the office of prime minister will likely go to conservative “Moderate” leader Ulf Christerson, as “Swedish Democrats” leader Jimmy Akesson is unable to unite the four parties to lead the government.
“Now I begin the task of forming a strong new government,” Christerson said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Kristerson, a former gymnast, took a major turn for her party when she began 2019 preliminary talks with the Swedish Democrats and then cemented their partnership.
Later the Christian Democrats and, to a lesser extent, the Liberals followed suit.
At the same time, the controversy over the appointment of the far right to ministerial posts, which Akesson said was their “target” on Sunday evening, has not been resolved.
In comments posted on Facebook, Akesson thanked “friends of Sweden” across the country.
“Now the work begins to restore greatness to Sweden,” said the party leader.
The Swedish Democrats emerged from a group of neo-Nazis and the Save Sweden Identity movement when it formed in the early 1990s. He entered parliament in 2010, getting 5.7 percent of the vote.
A difficult situation
The Swedish Democrats have long been a political pariah, but they have improved their position with each new election as part of their efforts to perfect their image.
His uncompromising stances on issues such as crime, bloody gang settlements and integration issues dominated this year’s election campaign.
The small majority also means that the control of power by a right-wing government will be very fragile, as the positions of the four parties are highly contradictory on a number of issues, notably the “liberals” and the “Swedish Democrats”.
“It’s a difficult parliamentary situation,” Michael Gilliam, political affairs expert at the University of Gothenburg, told AFP. “And then there are the parties that don’t like each other, the Swedish Democrats and the Liberals” in the same right wing-bloc.
In a situation like this, some disgruntled MPs can tip the balance of power.
Behind the Swedish Democrats, who got 73 seats, 11 more than in the previous 2018 elections, the moderates got 68 seats (two fewer), the Christian Democrats 19 (three fewer) and the Liberals 16 (four fewer seats) .
In the left bloc, the Social Democrats won 107 seats (seven more) with 30.3 per cent of the vote, ahead of the left and center parties (24 seats each) and the Greens (18 seats).
The process of political change won’t begin until Anderson announces his resignation on Thursday.
Then the Speaker of the House of Representatives could entrust Ulf Christerson with the task of forming the majority of the four parties, paving the way for a period of negotiations.
It is not possible to choose a prime minister until 27 September, with the opening of the session of the parliament.
(AFP)
–
