Sweden’s centre-left leader sought to forge a minority government with his defeated centre-right foes yesterday, a day after an election that gave an anti-immigrant party the balance of power.
Stefan Lofven’s Social Democrats and two other left-leaning parties garnered more votes than the outgoing centre-right Alliance of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Sunday’s election but fell short of a parliamentary majority.
The far-right Sweden Democrats, which includes neo-Nazi supporters among its founders and wants to slash immigration by 90 per cent, has emerged as the third largest party after doubling their share of the vote to 13 per cent. Its surge has shocked mainstream parties.
In the space of one night, Sweden’s image has changed from that of a liberal, tolerant nation that excels in combining a generous welfare state with fiscal rigour to one facing political gridlock and overshadowed, like many other European countries, by fears about mass immigration and unemployment.
“A victory became a defeat,” blared the editorial headline of Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
“Alliance government lost, but only populist right won,” tweeted Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
Lofven, a former trade union boss who negotiated tough wage deals with some of Sweden’s biggest companies during the global financial crisis, swiftly appealed to the centre-right to work together with a new centre-left government.
The Left party said it would not take part in a Social Democrat-led government, TT news agency reported. This was not unexpected and still leaves open the possibility the party will support the government from the outside.
Party leader Jimmie Akesson unfurls a poster that reads, “Sweden’s third largest party!” at the election party of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in Stockholm, yesterday. Photo: Reuters“The hand is there outstretched,” Lofven told reporters.
“Now we are going to start talks with the Green Party and then continue with the Left Party and then we will make contact also with the Centre Party and the Liberal Party [of the outgoing Alliance coalition],” he said.
I don’t exclude anything. I’m not closing any doors
Asked if he excluded a coalition with centre-right parties, he said: “I don’t exclude anything. I’m not closing any doors.”
But it could be hard for centre-right parties to cooperate with Lofven after they flatly refused to before the election. They are keen not to dilute the power of the Alliance, which in its eight years in power has slashed taxes including those on income and wealth and has increasingly allowed private firms to run Sweden’s state hospitals and schools.
The three centre-left parties won 158 parliamentary seats in total, well short of the 175 needed for a majority. The four-party Alliance, which includes Reinfeldt’s Moderate Party, won 142 seats, while the Sweden Democrats got 49 seats.
Sweden, a triple A-rated economy that emerged from the global economic crisis in better shape than most of its EU peers, faces an increased risk of policy stalemate. The worst case scenario would be for Lofven to lose a budget vote later this year, which could trigger another election.