Anti-Immigration Party Threatens Swedish Political Stability

Holding flowers, leaders of the Alliance coalition government Liberal Jan Bj�¶rklund (L), Center Party Maud Olofsson (C), and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (R) meet supporters in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sept. 19, 2010, after their victory in the general election. (Zhihe Li/The Epoch Times)

When results of the Swedish general elections were finalized last Thursday, the ruling four-party centre-right coalition, known as the Alliance, managed to gather 173 seats in the Parliament, but was short of two seats to win the absolute majority.

The leader of the coalition, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, has decided to proceed with building a new minority government and will be compelled to seek cooperation with the opposition. To complicate the political scene, the anti-immigration, far-right party, the Sweden Democrats, won 20 seats, a result that can put them in the role of balancing the powers in the Swedish Parliament.

Minority Rule

Reinfeldt said he would seek cooperation with the Green Party from the opposition block. But a meeting between the prime minister and the leaders of the Greens on Sept. 27 did not result in any plan for a new majority coalition.

The Alliance—a union of the Moderate Party under Reinfeldt, the Liberal Party, the Centre Party, and the Christian Democrats—was divided on the topic and did not offer the Greens any proposal on coalition negotiations, according to Greens spokespersons Peter Erikson and Maria Wetterstrand at a press conference following the meeting.

Anxious Swedes

The Greens said they want Sweden to be an “open country” and are ready to “cooperate with the government in matters relating to asylum and refugee policy, immigration, integration and civil rights.”

Swedes are now anxiously awaiting word from their prime minister on how he intends to run a government with a minority rule. On Oct. 5, the newly elected Parliament will meet and Reinfeldt is expected to present his new government.

If the Alliance settles for a minority rule, its powers will be reduced and complications are bound to occur when passing significant bills, according to observers.

Xenophobic Party

The opposition “Red-Green” coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats, the Green Party, and the Left Party has accumulated 156 seats. Discussions in the aftermath of the election focus on the complicated political scenario involving the xenophobic Sweden Democrats that managed to harvest 20 seats, giving them a ticket into the chamber of political powers, for the first time.

The controversial Sweden Democrats, who deny being racist, advocate severe cuts to immigration levels and cultural assimilation of immigrants, rather than integration. They are also strongly critical of Muslims and Islam. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson is now in a position to “horse-trade” with the political blocks in favor of his party’s agenda.

Cooperation Against Xenophobia

The other political parties within the two major blocks have said they would not work with the Sweden Democrats. If they keep their word, the Sweden Democrats will at least be held in check temporarily.

Meanwhile, the prime minister has declared that the government must respect the electoral results but that he and his party “will not cooperate with them.”

Opposition leader, Mona Sahlin, said she is solemnly devoted to fighting xenophobia and it is up to Reinfeldt how he intends to govern Sweden without letting the Sweden Democrats brandish their power.