STOCKHOLM, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The leader of Sweden’s conservatives, Ulf Kristersson, was working to form a new government on Thursday after a narrow election win by a coalition of right and far-right parties.
“I now begin the work of forming a new and strong government,” Kristersson said as vote tallies were being finalised. “Now we will restore order in Sweden!”
With 176 seats – 73 of them going to the far-right Sweden Democrats – the four-party coalition will have a slim majority over the left, which won 173, according to a tally by the country’s elections authority that includes 99.9 percent of voting offices.
Sunday’s election was so close that it took until Wednesday for tens of thousands of votes from abroad and those cast in advance to be counted to validate the results.
Acknowledging her camp’s defeat on Wednesday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced that she would resign.
Never before has a Swedish government relied on the support of the anti-immigration and nationalist Sweden Democrats, who became the big winners of the vote.
With the vast majority of votes counted, the party emerged as Sweden’s second largest behind the Social Democrats, who have dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s.
Kristersson, a former gymnast, led a major U-turn for his party when initiating exploratory talks in 2019 with the Sweden Democrats and then deepening their cooperation.
The Christian Democrats, and to a lesser extent the Liberals, later followed suit.
The head of Italy’s anti-immigrant League, Matteo Salvini, hailed the party’s success, saying: “Even in beautiful and democratic Sweden, the left is defeated and sent home.”
The Sweden Democrats rose up out of neo-Nazi groups and the “Keep Sweden Swedish” movement in the early 1990s, entering parliament in 2010 with 5.7 percent of votes.
Its hardline stance on soaring gang shootings and integration set the tone in this year’s election.
The narrow majority means a right-wing government’s hold on power would be very fragile, with the four parties fiercely opposed on a number of issues, especially the Liberals and Sweden Democrats.
Behind the Sweden Democrats with 73 seats – 11 more than in the last elections in 2018 – the Moderates have 68 (-2), while the Christian Democrats have 19 (-3) and the Liberals 16 (-4).
On the left, the Social Democrats climbed to 107 seats (+7) after getting 30.3 percent of the vote, ahead of the Left and Centre parties (24 seats each) and the Green Party (18).
Formally, the process of political changeover can only start after Andersson’s official resignation on Thursday.
Then the speaker of the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, can give Kristersson the task of forming a majority between the four parties, opening a period of negotiations.
The election of the new head of government cannot take place before Sept 27 at the earliest, when parliament re-opens. — NNN-AGENCIES
