Friday, March 29

Sweden’s Prime Minister announces her resignation after the victory of the center-right


The Swedish Prime Minister, the social democrat Magdalena Andersson, announced on Wednesday that she will present her resignation tomorrow after confirming the defeat of the center-left bloc against the right-wing opposition in Sunday’s legislative elections. With 99.7 percent of electoral districts counted, the right-wing opposition won the election by three seats, 176 to 173, according to today’s tally by the Electoral Authority, which includes the vote abroad and early votes sent within deadline, but they did not arrive on time.

Magdalena Andersson, Prime Minister of Sweden: “The extreme right has ideas far removed from the majority of the people”

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The Social Democrats, the most voted force in the last century, defended their first position and achieved 30.4 percent, two points more than in 2018, and Andersson plans to continue leading the party. In second position was the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), with 20.6 percent, three points more; ahead of the conservatives of the opposition leader, Ulf Kristersson, who fell seven tenths to 19.1 percent. “Almost all the votes have been counted, but the preliminary election result is clear enough,” Andersson told a news conference. Until now, the prime minister predicted that it will be a “hard” and “complicated” legislature due to the small difference and she expressed concern about the rise of the SD. “That makes many Swedes uneasy. I see that uneasiness and I share it”, affirmed the prime minister, who urged to combat hatred and intolerance and called on the other three forces of the right to put “limits” on the SD. The Social Democratic leader also stressed that her party obtained a “solid” electoral result and that it is “clearly” the largest in Sweden.

The final result places the opposition block with 49.6 percent of the votes against 49 percent of the center-left and the difference between the blocks goes from one to three seats, with respect to the result released on Monday, when the votes were still to be counted. called “Wednesday votes”.

Just over 44,500 votes separated the two blocs on Monday, which had maintained caution these days while waiting for a final result, although the four parties of the right-wing bloc have held meetings and the Swedish media were already speculating on the possible distribution of portfolios . The “Wednesday votes” have historically had little influence on the final result, with the exception of 1979, when they favored victory for the right, after 8,500 ballots separated the two blocs on election night.

The SD was the big winner of the elections: not only has it been the force that has grown the most, but it has taken away from the conservatives the leadership in the right-wing bloc, which it had held since 1979, and will have a direct influence on the formation of government after a decade of isolation.

This far-right formation, with neo-Nazi roots at the end of the eighties, has been subjected to a “cordon sanitaire” by the rest of the forces since its entry into Parliament in 2010, which explains why the Social Democrats have governed in a minority the last two legislatures despite the fact that there was a majority of the right in the Chamber.

In the last one, a pact with centrists and liberals was necessary, breaking the center-right alliance that existed since 2004, to maintain isolation, although conservatives, Christian Democrats and liberals, who have changed sides again, have long defended negotiating with the extreme right , although without being in the government.

The Swedish media are rumoring the possibility that conservatives and Christian Democrats will form a minority executive, headed by Kristersson and supported from outside by the other forces of the bloc. However, the SD has claimed a “central” role and aspires to “be part of the government”, as its leader, Jimmie Åkesson, said on election night.



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