On the 13th of September Sweden goes to the polls. The 4% electoral threshold in force since 1968 has 8 political parties in parliament defending their seats in the coming election. 1968 was also the last year that any party (social democrats) had a majority of parliamentary seats. Since then bloc politics has been the order of the day with parties of different shades of red or blue on either side of the divide.
The arrival of the one agenda only Green Party (Miljöpartiet) in 1988 with 20 seats of the 349 in total caused a bit of a kerfuffel until eventually revealing themselves as more red than green thus toeing the line of bloc politics.
Disregarding one or two intermediary populist clown shows the proverbial cat amongst the all too complacent pigeons occurred in 2010 with the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) squeezing into parliament at 5.7%. Populist, nationalist, anti-immigrant with a dubious history and by tuning into growing immigration concerns the party attracted conservative voters as well as a considerable proportion of voters inclined to vote social democrat. Despite originally being shunned by virtually the entire political establishment the Sweden Democrats have over the years grown into a force to be reckoned with, so much so that their ca. 20% electoral share is a prerequisite for any government right of centre. Ironically, until now at least, sharing the same fate as the former communist party the Left (Vänsterpartiet): ”we welcome your support but we are not in the habit of handing out ministerial posts to parties harbouring politicians still to be housebroken.”
Not the best opening line when soliciting vital support as both prime minister candidates, (on the left Magdalena Andersson, social democrat and on the right Ulf Kristersson, conservative) have come to realize. The way things are looking the next government will likely include ministers from either one or the other of the two political extremes in Swedish politics. In a nutshell, terrorist apologists on the left and populist racists on the right.
A stricter approach towards immigration, support for Ukraine, NATO, EU membership as well as law and order are no longer bones of contention. Issues concerning the economy,the climate and national health much the same as ever, in other words, ”vote for us we do things better,” underlined by vapid election posters to the tune of, ”Believe in Sweden, Sweden can do better, Time to take your economy seriously, We are on your side etc. etc.”
In the absence of any fundemental political agenda, parties are instead focusing on who not to vote for as opposed to what to vote for, targetting the polical bad boys in each bloc.
To quote Winston Churchill in the House of Commons in 1947, ”Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time….”
Something I shall bear in mind when I vote on Sunday.
