Swedish election results: Far-right anti-immigrant party Sweden Democrats wins 'one in five votes' and comes third

Joy Lo Dico10 September 2018

After a bruising election campaign, the populist and nationalist Sweden Democrats have come a close third in the election, upping their vote share from 13% to 18%.

They are most unlikely to win a place in any ruling coalition that is formed, but their strong polling performance in this election has changed the conversation in Sweden, which has been a standard-bearer for liberal values and social democracy in Europe.

The urbane citizens of Stockholm are shocked that a party that espouses turning back refugees and a referendum on EU membership has gained nearly one-in-five of the votes cast, and that Sweden has become part of the wider story rise of the right in Europe.

All parties left-leanin have, in the course of this campaign, had to toughen their own stances on immigration, amid hostility from sections of the electorate

The Sweden Democrats appear to have drawn votes from both the two largest parties, the left leaning Social Democrats and the right leaning Moderates.

Electoral officials count ballots
AP

Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister for the Moderates told the Evening Standard on Sunday: “Sweden is becoming like a lot of other European countries - we [now] have a more fractured political landscape. There is the hollowing out, the decline of the big parties.”

Over the next days, and possibly weeks if no easy answer is found, the parties will form blocks under proportional representation system.

The Social Democrats, Greens and the Left could collectively command 144 seats in the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag according to projected figures at 11pm with half the votes counted. The Alliance of centre-rights parties, with the Moderates, Liberals, Christian Democrats and Centrists would have 142 seats, of the total of 349.

The Sweden Democrats have traditionally been shunned from all coalition agreements but hold some sway over Parliament decisions. They are projected to win 63 seats.

The Eurosceptic Left party has also seen its vote rise by around 2 per cent.

Together with the Sweden Democrats, that means a rise of 6 or 7 percent in anti-EU parties.

Swedish Democrats supporters react
AFP/Getty Images

There is some relief that, despite predictions, the losses have been small. However the incumbent Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, even as the leader of the Social Democrats, may not remain in post as the bargaining goes on.

The first test of any government which is formed is whether they can pass the budget in November.

As well as trying to sort out a government, there will also be a series of post mortems among the established parties about how they lost their footing and the media war.

One reason may be the lack of movement up until now.

"The [main] parties are no longer dependent on their members,” Jans Scherman, a former CEO of Swedish TV4 who has made films on Swedish democracy toldt Swedish English language newspaper TheLocal.se.

“They've become dependent on handouts in the form of the financial support from the state that they have decided to award themselves. This is an anaesthetic that means they don't have to engage actively with the voters."

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