Historically on the left, is the country tilting towards the extreme right?

The Swedes made their voices heard this Sunday during the legislative elections. According to the first results at the exit of the polls, which will be definitively confirmed this Wednesday, the hard right, here embodied by the Democrats of Sweden (DS), could take an unprecedented place in the Swedish political spectrum. Based on the votes counted Monday afternoon covering nearly 95% of the polling stations, the anti-immigration party would gather 20.6%. Finally, the right-wing bloc (SD, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals) would obtain 49.7% of the vote and the left-wing bloc (Social Democrats, Left Party, Greens and Center Party) would gather 48 .8%.

But what (nationalist) fly stung the Swedes? What is this DS, National Rally with Nordic sauce? And when did Sweden, so far envied for its left-wing socio-economic model, shift to the right, or even to the extreme right? 20 minutes takes stock of this political shift, far from being anecdotal since it seems to be spreading throughout Scandinavia.

What is the Sweden Democrats Party?

“Originally, the Democrats of Sweden party was a right-wing populist formation, resulting from an extreme right-wing movement founded in 1988”, reminds 20 minutes Cyril Coulet, specialist in the Nordic countries and former researcher at the Swedish Institute of International Relations. Originally, the Democrats of Sweden (DS) party was called the “Bevara Sverige Svenskt” (understand “let’s keep Sweden Swedish”) and had many neo-Nazi militants within it. However, “the DS remained on the fringes of Swedish politics in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, details Cyril Coulet. It was in the 2000s, with the accession to its head of Jimmie Åkesson, 43 years, that the party will begin its normalization in the political spectrum. »

Today, with a provisional score of 20.7%, it is impossible to ignore this star of the Swedish polls. But what does he claim? Denunciation of immigration, Euroscepticism and promotion of the social state, “the party has quite classic themes in its genre”. On the ideological level, Jimmie Åkesson, its leader since 2005, openly denounces multiculturalism and straightforwardly promotes “native Swedes”.

Why is the breakthrough of a nationalist party historic in Sweden?

“The Swedish Democratic Party has been growing steadily since 2010,” says the former researcher at the Swedish Institute of International Relations. Although on the fringe before that, it now reaches important strata of Swedish power. More than important, the Democrats of Sweden party is neither more nor less than the second political force of the country. The ultra-conservative party can, as such, claim a coalition with the traditional right of the country “and that’s historic”, says Cyril Coulet. To date, the DS has so many deputies in place that it cannot possibly be excluded from the political landscape. “And that too is historic, in a country rather anchored on the left”, adds the expert.

In a country that is increasingly on fire over the issue of internal security, the suburbs, rampant islamophobia and more generally of immigration, “the promise of a welfare state allowing individuals to free themselves from their communities is gaining more and more followers”. This would explain how the party would have gone from 4% of the vote in 2010 to more than 20% in 2022.

Thus, if the scores were confirmed on Wednesday, the left would leave power after eight years at the helm. And with a provisional score of 20.6%, the DS would sign a new record and would become the first right-wing party but also the second party in Sweden. And “it smells damn good”, launched Sunday Jimmie Åkesson in front of his troops in fusion at his campaign HQ.

Is this rise of the extreme right common to all the Nordic countries?

“Completely,” replies the specialist in the Nordic countries bluntly. Sweden has so far served as an exception in a Nordic landscape that is still firmly rooted on the right. Since 2010, Finland and Norway have seen the arrival of conservative or populist parties in the foreground: the Party of Finns with populist and nationalist tendencies or the Progress Party (Norway), libertarian and conservative.

Remember, however, that last April, a series of violent riots almost went under the radar. Sweden had been the scene of violent confrontations between the police and rioters. The reason ? The demonstrators were protesting against a gathering of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam group dubbed “Hard Line” [«Stram Kurs »], led by Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan. The latter planned to start a “tour” in Sweden on Thursday, targeting neighborhoods with a large Muslim population to burn the Koran there.

Still, on Sunday, the last bastion, that of the ballot boxes, would have been conquered? “With the legislative elections, a new step has been taken in Sweden, abounds Cyril Coulet. In Sweden certainly, but also as in all the Nordic countries. »


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