A historic win for the anti-immigrant party in the shining beacon of European values could seismically upend the continent’s future, but establishment parties may still collude to keep the Sweden Democrats out of power.
Most polls gave the center-left Social Democrats the narrowest of leads, but the country’s historically dominant party is almost certain to achieve its worst election result since 1908.
This government has run its course,” the Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson told cheering supporters at a post-election rally. “Now it should resign.
The traditional conservative opposition, the Moderate Party, is likely to be pushed into third place, but the difference between all three front-runners will probably be in single figures.
But as in Italy earlier this year, the results of the individual parties will only give a hint to the make-up of the future government.
The Sweden Democrats have successfully played off valid general concerns over uncontrolled immigration and crumbling public welfare to pierce the fortress of liberal values in Sweden.
A combination of the bad state of the immigration influx and the violence associated with refugees, in addition to unreported and under-reported gang-related crime rates have contributed to loss of confidence for the ruling Social Democrats in Sweden, whose leader Stefan Lofven has struggled to maintain the quality of living for an average man.
People who are not familiar with Sweden need to understand that from an American perspective, even Sweden Democrats is a left-leaning economic policy.
But they have been raising valid concerns about the state of unvetted immigrants, the crime sprees, the terror attacks, and the wisdom of continuing this type of immigration policy.
Sweden has accepted more migrants per capita than any other European Union member state, welcoming some 163,000 asylum seekers to the country in 2015, immediately polarizing the voters.
In addition, lethal violence involving firearms has also increased between warring criminal gangs. Records released by Swedish police in December 2017 reveal there were a total of 306 shooting incidents last year, resulting in 41 deaths.
RT.com / ABC Flash Point Political News 2018.
