Home · World · Sep 13 archive
Sweden Votes in Tight Election as Far-Right Party Seeks Power
Confirmed
In Short: Voters in Sweden are casting ballots in a closely watched election that could see the far-right Sweden Democrats enter government for the first time.
Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the conservative Moderates and current prime minister, voted with his wife at a school in his home municipality of Nacka, south of Stockholm. Kristersson announced in April that his party would allow the far-right Sweden Democrats into government if the right-wing bloc wins, though he would remain prime minister even if the Sweden Democrats are the stronger party.
The Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration, far-right party that has moved towards the political mainstream, could enter government for the first time if the right-wing bloc wins. Pre-election opinion polls have long credited the left-wing bloc with a comfortable lead over Kristersson’s four-party alliance, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats.
Kristersson told news agency AFP before the vote, "We want to use our new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people … to make Sweden great again." The far-right Sweden Democrats party could enter government for the first time if the right-wing bloc wins, something that has never happened in Sweden before.
Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, or 12% of all those who sought protection in the EU, according to Sweden’s Migration Agency. The current government has taken a much stricter stance on immigration since then, as the nation experienced a dramatic rise in gun-related violence, with the country witnessing 391 shootings resulting in 62 deaths, according to The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, a government agency under the Ministry of Justice.
The Sweden Democrats were founded by activists in far-right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis, according to Fox News. After the 2015 influx of asylum seekers from Syria and other war-torn countries strained its reception system, Sweden began tightening its borders. The current government has taken that shift much further, leading to concerns about the future direction of the country.
Background
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east, and shares a maritime border with Denmark to the south.
What's confirmed
- Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the conservative Moderates and current prime minister, voted with his wife at a school in his home municipality of Nacka, south of Stockholm. Kristersson announced in April that his party would allow the far-right Sweden Democrats into government if the right-wing bloc wins, though he would remain prime minister even if the Sweden Democrats are the stronger party.
- The Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration, far-right party that has moved towards the political mainstream, could enter government for the first time if the right-wing bloc wins. Pre-election opinion polls have long credited the left-wing bloc with a comfortable lead over Kristersson’s four-party alliance, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats.
- Kristersson told news agency AFP before the vote, "We want to use our new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people … to make Sweden great again." The far-right Sweden Democrats party could enter government for the first time if the right-wing bloc wins, something that has never happened in Sweden before.
- Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, or 12% of all those who sought protection in the EU, according to Sweden’s Migration Agency. The current government has taken a much stricter stance on immigration since then, as the nation experienced a dramatic rise in gun-related violence, with the country witnessing 391 shootings resulting in 62 deaths, according to The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, a government agency under the Ministry of Justice.
- The Sweden Democrats were founded by activists in far-right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis, according to Fox News. After the 2015 influx of asylum seekers from Syria and other war-torn countries strained its reception system, Sweden began tightening its borders. The current government has taken that shift much further, leading to concerns about the future direction of the country.
What's still developing
- Voters in Sweden are heading to the polls in an extremely close general election that will see either the far right enter government for the first time or the centre-left opposition reclaim power.
- He has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party centre-right coalition.