By Janis Laizans and Marie Mannes
STOCKHOLM, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Swedes were voting in a closely fought election on Sunday that will either bring a far-right party into government for the first time or shift the country back towards the liberalism it has long been known for.
Sweden’s centre-left opposition held a narrow lead over the ruling right-wing bloc ahead of Sunday’s election for parliament, several opinion polls showed this week.
But Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who has trailed in opinion polls throughout his four years in office, has been catching up in the final weeks of campaigning, with rival Magdalena Andersson and her Social Democrats losing ground.
Kristersson, who has pledged to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into government if his bloc wins, voted together with his family in his hometown, Strangnas, on Sunday.
“The precondition for getting things done is actually the ability to compromise, to have a clear vision but be pragmatic,” he said. “If we get people’s votes we will continue to do that for the coming four years.”
Critics say his government’s agenda is undermining civil liberties while forcing immigrants to conform more closely to Swedish cultural norms or leave the country, urged on by both inducements and penalties.
“We’ve become a harder society, a quieter society, but also a poorer society as we’ve had growth far below our potential and where households see their pay checks buy less and less,” Andersson told Reuters, adding that uniting people had made Sweden strong.
Supporters of the right-wing bloc say its policies have helped curb gang violence and cut immigration dramatically, and that a victory would amount to a public endorsement of that approach and more in the same vein in the years ahead.
Johanna Tornqvist, 44, a market analyst, said she had cast her ballot for the right-wing coalition and that fears surrounding the prospect of the Sweden Democrats joining the government had been exaggerated.
“The most important thing is to keep the red-greens out of government,” she said.
Electoral success for the Sweden Democrats would likely be welcomed by Europe’s ascendant far-right parties, buoyed by the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany’s win in a German state election last week. The rise of populist, anti-migrant politics in some of the EU’s largest economies could reshape how the bloc is governed.
While several countries already have far-right governments, centrists retain control of most of the richer Western European nations. That may change if the far-right National Rally wins next year’s presidential election in France.
Susanne Cherment, a 20-year-old student voting for the first time at a polling station in Nacka, east of Stockholm, said she had been put off by the Sweden Democrats’ rhetoric.
“I think it’s scary how many young people are drawn to the far right,” she said.
ANOTHER COUNTRY
Polling stations in EU member Sweden, which joined NATO after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) with exit polls due soon after they close at 1800 GMT and data giving an indication of the result at around 1900 GMT.
Voters in Rinkeby, an area in northern Stockholm designated by the police as extremely socially deprived, were worried things might get worse for them.
“They target Muslims. They single out Muslims and immigrants. But immigrants contribute to society,” Kahin Ahmed, 57, a sociologist who came to Sweden from Somalia as a refugee, told Reuters.
“A quarter of those working in healthcare are immigrants. If immigrants stayed home for a single day, Sweden wouldn’t function,” he said.
Over the last four years, the ruling minority coalition – backed by the Sweden Democrats – has abolished permanent residency for refugees, tightened welfare rules and boosted expulsions of those without a right to stay.
Voting on Saturday in Rinkeby, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson said the suburb, home to one of the country’s biggest Swedish-Somali populations, “doesn’t look like Sweden”.
The Sweden Democrats have pledged to ban both the niqab and the burqa if they get into government. Akesson told Reuters such dress “reflects values that I don’t think belong in Sweden”.
BUILDING A GOVERNMENT
The right has already agreed to form a four-party government led by Kristersson if they win, while Andersson’s path to power is more uncertain.
Her Social Democrats have been losing ground in opinion polls despite support from celebrities including ABBA’s Benny Andersson, who changed the lyrics in the refrain of “Mamma Mia” to “Magdalena” at a rally where he performed this week.
The election could ultimately be decided by whether the Liberals surpass the 4% threshold to win seats in parliament, bolstering a right wing that includes Moderates, Christian Democrats and, since being invited by Kristersson earlier this year, Sweden Democrats.
The Sweden Democrats have already spent four years propping up Kristersson’s minority government in parliament, building credibility with the broader right-wing bloc.
Meanwhile, the rival blocs have converged on several voter priorities, including support for Ukraine, military rearmament and relief for households hit by the cost-of-living crisis.
While the opposition Social Democrats, Greens, Left Party and Centre Party broadly agree on the need for higher welfare and public spending, divisions persist on many issues, including immigration, where Andersson’s party wants a more restrictive line than some of its would-be partners.
They are also at odds over issues including a tax on billionaires and the building of new nuclear reactors, while the Centre refuses to support a government that includes the Left Party, increasing the challenge Andersson would face to form a cabinet.
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, Simon Johnson, Johan Ahlander and Tom Little; additional reporting by Ilze Filks, Ardee Napolitano, Janis Laizans for Reuters TV, Greta Rosen Fondahn, Marie Mannes, Terje Solsvik and Anna Ringstrom; writing by Niklas Pollard and Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Joe Bavier and Susan Fenton)
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