On September 19, the Swedes will vote for representatives at the national, regional and municipal levels. To earn the right to sit in Parliament, a party needs to garner at least four percent of the national vote or 12 of the vote in a single voting district for that district’s seat.
The Swedish parliament had traditionally been dominated by the Social Democrats, a party that was a driving force in government for most of the post-war era, and up until a decade or so ago, the party still drew almost half of the Swedish vote. However, their share of the vote gradually declined to today’s approximate 30 percent. Prior to the last election, four conservative and liberal parties formed a coalition, which contributed to the weakening of the Social Democrats’ influence.
Social Democrats recently countered by forming the coalition with a smaller socialist party, the Left Party, and the Green Party, in order to have chance to achieve a majority. These two coalitions now account for 90-95 percent of all votes garnered, throwing a wrench into the normal gears of Swedish politics.
Thus, two large political camps now are pitted against one another, making politics in Sweden similar to that in the United States or the United Kingdom.
A populist, nationalist party may also squeeze past the four percent limit to become a decisive force between the two blocks in the new parliament, much to the chagrin of both sides, who constantly distance themselves from what they call a xenophobic, anti-Muslim and even racist party.
Continued on the next page...
Political Differences Unclear
Any actual ideological differences between the two main alternatives have not come across in the election campaigns, according to political scientist Tommy Möller. He told Swedish public service television (SVT) last week that today’s society wants short news pieces, and this gives little time for expounding ideological ideas.
However, some political experts and the media point out that the rhetoric from both coalitions has moved toward the center, making it difficult for most in the public to see the differences between the two camps.
Also blurring any substantive difference is the fact that both sides are battling over the increasingly important and growing middle group of voters, who might swing to either coalition. As a result, the two sides are sticking quite close together, neither daring to be daring.
The main topics have been what the parties will offer economically to different groups in society if they win. For the first time, senior citizens have become an important constituency. The large and still very influential generation born in the 1940’s is now retiring and they are much more likely to vote than younger people who may not feel a connection to any of the traditional parties.
Numbers indicate that the conservative block has an increasing lead, despite the fact that they were far behind in the polls earlier this year.
Mona Sahlin, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, who will be prime minister of Sweden if her party’s coalition wins, said that to turn the trend around, her side has to overcome obvious problems of finding “winning” issues.
Some pundits say that the last hope for Sahlin’s side is to mobilize as much of the large group of undecided voters as possible. Meanwhile, many voters have lost interest in the debate, due to the harsh tones from both sides, who try their best to convince them that the difference between the two coalitions are in fact huge.
Friends Read Free