Swedish election puts anti-immigration Sweden Democrats onto center stage
Sweden’s right-leaning bloc appeared in pole position Sept. 12 to form a government for the first time in nearly a decade, helped by a wave of voter anger over gang violence that could give an anti-immigration populist party a share of power for the first time.
The Sept. 11 national election was still too close to call Sept. 12, with about 5% of districts yet to be counted, but early results gave right-wing parties 175 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag, one more than the left-leaning bloc. A full preliminary result was expected Sept. 14.
If the results are confirmed, Sweden, which has long prided itself on being a bastion of tolerance, will become less open to immigrants even as the Russian invasion of Ukraine forces people to flee and climate change pushes many to leave Africa.
The right-wing populist Sweden Democrats won its best result since entering parliament in 2010. The party had links to fascists and neo-Nazis in the 1980s, but over the past two decades has tried to move into the mainstream under leader Jimmie Akesson. (Reuters, AP)
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