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STOCKHOLM, Sept. 11 (AP) — Sweden’s ruling left-wing Social Democrats won the most votes in Sunday’s general election, while right-wing populist parties fared best, an exit poll showed.
The polls published by the Swedish public broadcaster SVT were inaccurate and the final results would only be known after the votes were counted.
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There are 8 parties running for seats in the 349-seat parliament or Riksdag.
They belong to one of two main blocs, one with four left-wing parties and the other with four conservative parties.
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Exit polls showed the left slightly ahead of the right, 176 seats to 173.
Swedes voted in a national election on Sunday that is expected to give a boost to a populist anti-immigration party that has pledged to crack down on shootings and other gang violence that have shaken many people’s sense of security.
Sweden’s right-wing Democrats entered parliament in 2010 and have steadily gained more votes in each election.
The party’s fortunes have risen in recent years with mass immigration, especially in the European crisis year of 2015, and increased crime in apartheid communities.
The party originated as a white nationalist movement, but began expelling extremists years ago.
Despite the rebranding, it has long been viewed by voters as unacceptable and other parties shunned it. That is changing.
Polls predict that the Sweden Democrats, which won 13 percent in 2018, will become the second-largest party in parliament on Sunday with about 20 percent of the vote. That would put it just behind Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson’s centre-left Social Democrats.
Anderson, a 55-year-old economist, enjoys a high approval rating. She became Sweden’s first female prime minister less than a year ago and led Sweden’s historic NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Zeth Isaksson, an expert on electoral behaviour at Stockholm University, said she was highly trusted because of her experience in government, first as finance minister, through crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, and as prime minister in negotiations to join NATO .
“Magdalena Anderson was one of the most important factors in this election,” Isaacson told The Associated Press.
At the rally, her supporters wore T-shirts and pins in a parody of former President Barack Obama’s stylized “Hope” poster.
But her party has no hope after eight years in power. They blame high taxes and a failure to stop frequent shootings.
“She has eight years to do everything she says she will do now,” said Bosse Adolfsson, a 70-year-old electrician at the Sweden Democrats rally.
“She asked to do nothing for another four years.”
There are two main blocs, one with four left-wing parties and the other with four conservative parties.
Opinion polls ahead of the election showed that the groups were neck and neck.
Anderson may not be able to form a government with a parliamentary majority if the left-wing bloc as a whole underperforms. The side in second place will start the attempt.
Traditionally, this would be the moderate wing of the center-right. While the party risks being vetoed by populists, their leader, the leader of the main opposition party, Ulf Kristersson, is seen as a possible candidate for prime minister if the right prevails. He promised that “Sweden needs to change”.
Populist leader Jimmy Akerson is still not seen as a candidate for prime minister given the party’s historical roots.
Torbjorn Sjostrom, chief executive of pollster Novus, said the moderate expectation of third place “turned everything upside down”. , so they would expect greater influence. “
He said people who voted for the Sweden Democrats were typically blue-collar workers, with twice as many men as women.
“It’s basically the same as what you see in most traditional populist parties, even among Trump voters,” he said, explaining that the party resonates with people who are “fearing for their safety and their future.”
Anderson expressed alarm at the growing popularity of the Sweden Democrats, describing it as a far-right party that, if it gains influence in government, could undermine Sweden’s identity as a tolerance and refuge for the persecuted.
“This could be another Sweden that we could have in four years,” she said.
The Sweden Democrats are clearly taking advantage of the anxiety of many, and other parties are getting closer to its position.
Tobias Andersson, a 26-year-old Sweden Democrats MP, said his party was unfairly described as racist by opponents.
“When my party was founded, I wasn’t even born, and I really didn’t care who founded it. I look at the values and policies we support today,” he told The Associated Press.
Politicians who called the Sweden Democrats racist were now “pushing the same policies themselves,” he said.
Most Swedes remain against them, with some voting tactically against any right-wing party to prevent the faction from gaining a chance to wield power.
Voting in Stockholm, computer expert Bjarne Frykholm, 65, would not say who he voted for, except to make it clear that he opposed the Sweden Democrats.
“I don’t want them to have any power at all,” he said. “I think they terrify me.” (The Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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