Swedish Right Takes Power as PM Accepts Election Defeat

The head of Sweden’s Moderate Party, Ulf Kristersson, said he would begin the work of forming a new government after Prime Minster Magdalena Andersson conceded her Social Democrats had lost the weekend’s general election.

The Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals appear set to get 176 seats in the 349-seat parliament to the centre-left’s 173 seats, according to the latest figures from the election authority.

“A handful of votes remain to be counted,” on Wednesday but the result is unlikely to change significantly.

“I will now start the work of forming a new government that can get things done,” Kristersson said in a video on his Instagram account.

The election “marks a watershed” in Swedish politics with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the white supremacist fringe, on the threshold of gaining influence over government policy.

A Thing of the Past
The success of the party, which took over from Kristersson’s Moderates as the country’s second biggest, has raised fears that Sweden’s tolerant and inclusive politics are a thing of the past.

However, their mantra that Sweden’s ills – particularly gang crime – are a result of decades of overgenerous immigration policies have hit home with many voters.

Kristersson said he would build a government “for all of Sweden and all citizens.”

“There is a big frustration in society, a fear of the violence, concern about the economy, the world is very uncertain and the political polarisation has become far too big also in Sweden,” he said. “Therefore my message is that I want to unite, not divide.”

Though Kristersson’s party is smaller, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson cannot get the broad backing from the right needed to oust the Social Democrats.

Kristersson is likely to try and form a government with the Christian Democrats and rely on ‘support in parliament’ from the Sweden Democrats and Liberals.

Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq