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Stockholm
Swedish voters were waiting for an upheaval, but not quite like that. The results of Sunday's general election are still in full swing, and at press time there was neither a declared winner nor an obvious path for the country. One thing is clear: the far right is now an electoral force and will have a major political influence, particularly on immigration policy.
Everyone knew that Sunday's election would be a referendum on immigration, with Sweden's nationalist democrats likely to be strong. Under the leadership of the party's charismatic president, Jimmie Åkesson, Swedish Democrats have made steady progress in pre-election polls, taking advantage of the widespread malaise caused by the high levels of immigration after the 2015 refugee crisis.
Sweden is a small country of less than 10 million inhabitants. The massive influx of migrants – more than 160,000 in 2015 alone – and the alarming rise in gang violence have forced many Swedes, who are also liberal, to rethink their commitment to open borders. As Sweden's democrats gained ground and polls showed strong support for the party's restrictive policies, the country's major parties turned to the right in the run-up to elections. Some forecasters have seen the Swedish Democrats win up to 30% of the vote, causing panic within the political establishment in this once homogeneous and open realm to the world.
The Swedish Democrats have finally arrived far from expectations. While attracting many more voters than in 2014, they do not seem to collect more than 18% of Riksdag seats. The Swedish center-left and center-right blocs each got 40% and are negotiating to form a coalition government. All major parties have excluded Swedish democrats, regardless of the ruling coalition.
The underperformance of the Swedish Democrats is an encouraging sign that Sweden is not preparing to abandon the nationalist path recently adopted by other European countries, at least not yet. Formed in 1988, the party has roots in Swedish fascist and neo-Nazi movements, but 39-year-old Åkesson has worked hard to keep Sweden's democrats out of his disgraceful past. The party's success, however, has blurred the traditional calculation of Swedish politics, turning sworn enemies into allies and the unthinkable into facts.
And they are not the only extremist party rising in Sweden. The left-wing party, formerly the Swedish Communist Party, has increased its vote percentage from 6% to 8% on a platform to abolish private companies, banning profits in the social welfare sector and, of course, a strong anti-Israeli stance.
This growing popularity of extremist views reflects widespread discontent, both left and right, with top-down governance of the European Union on issues such as immigration and the economy. The old nationalist tendencies are developing in Sweden, as elsewhere. Nothing good seems to come out.
Sweden is now faced with a choice that can determine much more than the next four years. The center must find a way to make peace with the angry masses. If, on the contrary, it defeats – and their concerns – away, the current political chaos could take a lousy turn. Be that as it may, a country that for decades was proudly the symbol of European openness and liberalism has lost its reputation as a moral example.
In two weeks, the coalition formed by Sunday's winners will receive the standard constitutional blessing of King Carl XVI Gustaf. This time, things will be different. There is no protocol for this kind of stalemate and there is no blessing for a crisis like that of Sweden. Whatever the coalitions formed in the coming days, the Swedes are certain that we have all lost, and that the liberal Kingdom of Sweden has irreversibly changed.
Mrs Hernroth-Rothstein is a journalist based in Stockholm.
Published in the print edition of September 11, 2018.
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