Anti-immigration party set for election gains as Sweden swings right

Anti-immigration party set for election gains as Sweden swings right

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedes vote on Sunday in a tight election dominated by fears over asylum and welfare, with the populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats vying to become the biggest party in a country long seen as a bastion of economic stability and liberal values.


https://i.imgur.com/7E4kpnY.png
Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate Party and Stefan Lofven, leader of the Social Democratic Party during a party duel broadcast by Sweden's tv-channel TV4 from Linkoping, Sweden September 8, 2018. TT News Agency/Anders Wiklund/via REUTERS


Far-right parties have made spectacular gains throughout Europe in recent years following a refugee crisis sparked by civil war in Syria and ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and parts of Africa.

In Sweden, the influx of 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 has polarized voters, fractured the cozy political consensus and could give the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi fringe, a veto over which parties form the next government.

“Traditional parties have failed to respond to the sense of discontent that exists,” Magnus Blomgren, a social scientist at Umea University.

“That discontent maybe isn’t directly related to unemployment or the economy, but simply a loss of faith in the political system. Sweden isn’t alone in this.”

The center-left bloc, uniting the minority governing Social Democrat and Green parties with the Left Party, is backed by about 40 percent of voters, recent opinion polls indicate, with a slim lead over the center-right Alliance bloc.

The Sweden Democrats, who want the country to leave the European Union and put a freeze on immigration, have about 17 percent, up from the 13 percent they scored in the 2014 vote, opinion polls suggest.

But their support was widely underestimated before the last election and some online surveys give them as much as 25 percent, a result that would likely make them the biggest party, dethroning the Social Democrats for the first time in a century.

That could weaken the Swedish crown in the short term, but analysts do not see any long-term effect on markets from the election as economic growth is strong, government coffers are well stocked and there is broad agreement about the thrust of economic policy.

Anti-immigration party set for election gains as Sweden swings right