Sweden held
the election of 349 legislators on 9/9/18. They in turn will need to form
coalitions to secure 175 seats to vote for a Prime Minister. This has not
happened. It will require a coalition of parties.
Like many
European countries, Sweden has too many political parties. The more
conservative parties are said to be the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats. The
other parties are Liberal with individual issues. The oldest party is the
Social Democrats.
Sweden has 8
political parties and the votes were converted to legislative seats won as
follows:
Social
Democrats – 100
Moderate –
70
Sweden
Democrats – 62
Center – 31
Left – 28
Christian
Democrats – 22
Liberals –
20
Greens – 16
Voters are
telling their government that the UN, EU Refugee invasion needs to be stopped
and reversed. See article below:
Sweden
Elections, by al Jazeera news, 9/9/18.
Refugees,
crime, environment in spotlight as Swedes head to polls The far right has drawn significant support ahead
of polls, politicizing issues such as migration and a rise in crime.
Swedes are heading to the polls on
Sunday in elections which are expected to see the far-right Sweden Democrats make historic gains.
The current government, formed as a
coalition between the centre-left Social Democrats and Green Party after the
2014 elections, could be unseated owing to the growing popularity of the Sweden
Democrats and right-wing Moderate Party.
Headed by incumbent Prime Minister Stefan
Lofven, Social Democrats is Sweden's oldest party. While some polls suggest
that it could remain the largest, challenges are mounting.
After months of rising support, Sweden
Democrats is currently polling at 24.8 percent, making the anti-immigration
party the largest in the field, according to a recent YouGov tally.
The party system in the country has undergone
change and is undergoing change. For decades, the whole of that period has been
about left against right.
NICHOLAS
AYLOTT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT SODERTORN UNIVERSITY
READ MORE
Sweden Democrats: How will the far
right perform in elections?
How does voting work? The Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, has 349 seats, which are decided through a proportional vote. Of that total, the country's 29 constituencies will decide 310 seats, while the remaining seats are divvied up to match each party's share of the total national vote. A party must receive at least four percent of votes to be assigned a seat.
Where does Sweden stand on refugees? Sweden absorbed 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the onset of the refugee crisis, which saw upwards of a million refugees and migrants reach Europe.
Migration to play key role in upcoming Swedish elections
Is the far right going to succeed? The Sweden Democrats, established in 1989, took just under 13 percent of the vote in 2014 and currently holds 42 seats in the Riksdag.
How has crime become a campaign theme? A wave of crime has impacted the election discourse, especially after the August 13 torching of some 80 vehicles in Gothenburg and other towns.
Dozens arrested during neo-Nazi rally in Sweden
Why is climate change a central issue? Climate change thrust into the public discourse after the country endured wildfires and record temperatures throughout the summer.
Sweden wildfires: Worst drought in 74 years.
How does voting work? The Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, has 349 seats, which are decided through a proportional vote. Of that total, the country's 29 constituencies will decide 310 seats, while the remaining seats are divvied up to match each party's share of the total national vote. A party must receive at least four percent of votes to be assigned a seat.
Where does Sweden stand on refugees? Sweden absorbed 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the onset of the refugee crisis, which saw upwards of a million refugees and migrants reach Europe.
Migration to play key role in upcoming Swedish elections
Is the far right going to succeed? The Sweden Democrats, established in 1989, took just under 13 percent of the vote in 2014 and currently holds 42 seats in the Riksdag.
How has crime become a campaign theme? A wave of crime has impacted the election discourse, especially after the August 13 torching of some 80 vehicles in Gothenburg and other towns.
Dozens arrested during neo-Nazi rally in Sweden
Why is climate change a central issue? Climate change thrust into the public discourse after the country endured wildfires and record temperatures throughout the summer.
Sweden wildfires: Worst drought in 74 years.
While confidence in the Social Democrats
has slumped, the Left Party has reached nearly 10 percent in the polls and
hopes to enter a potential coalition of left-leaning and progressive parties.
With anti-migrant, far-right and
populist parties garnering strong performances across the European Union thus
far in 2018, refugees have again become a central issue for voters.
Representatives from eight parties
currently have the 349 seats - Social Democrats, Moderate Party, Sweden
Democrats, Green Party, Centre Party, Left Party, Liberals and Christian
Democrats.
While the centre-left is represented by
Social Democrats and the Greens, a centre-right political alliance comprises
the Moderates, Centre Party, Liberals and Christian Democrats. Both blocs are
polling around 40 percent, with the left slightly in lead.
Sweden has
had a historically high voter turnout, with more than 85 percent of eligible
voters casting their votes during the 2014 elections. That year, more than 2.4
million people voted early.
This year, according to a preliminary
tally, upwards of 7.6 million people - slightly more than half of them women -
are registered to
vote in the Riksdag elections.
Of that total, around 161,000 Swedes
living abroad are eligible to vote. But unlike many European countries,
residents without Swedish citizenship are entitled to vote in municipal
elections.
Sweden's long-held reputation as a
liberal bastion in Europe has been challenged by the recent rise of
anti-refugee sentiment, which has prompted the current coalition to impose
stricter measures on the asylum process and border control.
In May, the government announced plans
to cut, almost by half, the number of refugees and migrants entering the
country. READ MORE
At the time, Immigration Minister Helene
Fritzon said Sweden should accept between 14,000 and 15,000 refugees a year, as
opposed to the 27,000 it took in last year.
"Even if the number of asylum
seekers has dropped significantly in Sweden, it is significantly higher than
[what it should be given] our population share in Europe," she told
reporters at the time.
Campaigning on anti-refugee positions
and a pledge to crack down on crime, the party's popularity has swelled during
the lead-up to this year's elections.
In the past, critics have lambasted the
Sweden Democrats' links to neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, something its leader, Jimmie Akesson,
has argued is no longer an issue.
In its official platform, the party says
its anti-migrant policies are driven by "love and confidence in our country".
"If we are the second biggest or
biggest party in parliament and the other parties still believe we can be
ignored, and pretend we don't exist, then we must flex our muscles,"
Akesson told Reuters in an interview earlier this year.
While hardline calls to freeze migration
drew fresh support, Sweden Democrats' promise to hold a potential EU referendum
has been less popular.
Former Prime Minister Carl Bildt
described the proposed referendum as "the biggest single danger to
Sweden's future prosperity".
Nicholas Aylott, an associate professor
of political science at Sodertorn University, said the rise of the Sweden
Democrats reflects a "disruption" of the country's political
tradition.
"The party system in the country
has undergone change and is undergoing change," he told Al Jazeera.
"For decades, the whole of that period has been about left against
right."
Speaking of the Sweden Democrats
potentially entering a coalition, he added: "It would be an absolutely
enormous change, a huge event in the country's political history."
"Society will always act hard
against this and we must continue to
do so … We will do what needs to be done to take care of it and go in hard
against this crime," Lofven, the prime minister, told Swedish radio at the
time.
In the last two years, dozens of people
have been killed in what was described as gang violence in Stockholm and other
large cities.
According to official statistics, 129
shootings took place in Stockholm in 2017 and 19 people were killed, nearly
twice the number of those who died in similar incidents the year before.
The government responded by calling for
harsher punishment for gun crimes and sexual assault.
In early July, political leaders
announced "crisis talks" with police over the escalating violence. READ MORE
With fears of violence spreading, Sweden
Democrats seized the opportunity to link immigration and crime, arguing
migrants are responsible for the rise.
In its online platform, the party argues
that "serious crimes should [receive] severe punishment and that foreign
citizens who commit crimes in Sweden should be expelled".
The Green Party, which entered a
coalition with the Social Democrats after the 2014 elections, has pushed for
environmentally friendly policies and measures against climate change during
the last four years.
By 2050, Sweden hopes to create a
society with no net greenhouse gas emissions, and the country leads the EU in
climate ranking, according to an international survey publishedin June. READ MORE
The Sweden Democrats expressed skepticism,
and its leader, Akesson, criticized other politicians for calling for extensive
measures after what he described as "one summer" of hot weather.
The far-right party has also vowed to introduce
cheaper petrol prices. Other key issues in the election include healthcare,
education and the country's social welfare system.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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