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Swedish centre right wins vote but loses majority

20 September 2010 18:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Sweden’s ruling center-right coalition faced the prospect on Monday of forming a minority government after losing its majority in an election because of a surge in support for an anti-immigrant party, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, which won their first parliamentary seats in the traditionally tolerant Nordic country and hold the balance of power, said other parties would now have to reckon with them.
But both Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and the left have said they will refuse to work with the party, which says it wants a more responsible immigration policy but is called racist by opponents.
Investors took the result in their stride and the Swedish crown firmed. The market focused on the fact that Reinfeldt would remain in power, and that Sweden has sound growth and public finances.
"... the strength of the economy (government finances and current account balances) and the economic policy framework give good immune defense against heightened political uncertainty/risks," SEB bank said in a note after the vote.
Reinfeldt, 45, said he would form a government in time for the start of a new session of parliament on October 5.
He noted that the combined vote of the center-left opposition and the Sweden Democrats was only 7,000 more than the government parties received, and said he wanted to wait for the final result to come in, which he said would be on Wednesday.
But if the final count confirms the preliminary result, Reinfeldt will be left with a minority in parliament.
GREEN REBUFF
He had earlier said if this happened he would ask the opposition Green Party for support, but on Monday said no talks had taken place:
"We have now have time until October 4-5 that we will use. It is good if we allow time for the election result to sink in."
The Green Party, which increased its vote during the election to 7.2 percent and became the fourth largest party, gave Reinfeldt a clear rebuff.
"It is our judgment that we ... have not received a mandate from our voters to begin any negotiations with the Alliance, neither to be part of a government nor to begin any closer cooperation," Green Party joint leader Maria Wetterstrand said.
Voters were choosing between Reinfeldt’s vision of a leaner welfare state, with more income tax cuts and privatizations, and a Social Democrat-led opposition platform that wanted the rich to pay more to fund schools, hospitals and care for the elderly.
The Social Democrats, who ruled for much of the last century and installed the "Swedish model" of the welfare state, had their worst election in almost 100 years.
NEW LANDSCAPE
From the preliminary count, Reinfeldt’s Alliance looked set to win 172 of parliament’s 349 seats, and the Social Democrat-led center left 157 -- among them 25 Greens.
The Sweden Democrats were on 20.
"If this outcome stands, we will have a scenario that most Swedish voters wanted to avoid -- that we have a xenophobic party holding the balance of power," said Ulf Bjereld, a political scientist at Gothenburg University.
Swedish newspapers saw the election as a dramatic shift.
"It is Monday morning and time for Swedes to find a new self-image," wrote the daily Svenska Dagbladet.
"A center-right government without a majority, a wrecked Social Democracy, and a party with roots in far-right extremism holding the balance of power."
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson, 31, was confident of securing political influence.
"We expect that the other parties see us as an equal partner and are ready to talk also with us," he told Swedish television.
His party have gained support by moving away from their skinhead roots, and their rise mirrors increases in backing for similar parties elsewhere in Europe, particularly in neighboring Denmark.
Analysts say the party, which wants to curtail immigration and criticizes Muslims and Islam as un-Swedish, finds support among the growing number of unemployed. It is strongest in the south of Sweden, where the proportion of immigrants is highest.
Immigrants account for 14 percent of Sweden’s population, above the 12.4 percent average for northern Europe, according to United Nations figures.