Die is cast. OUR Sweden is changing political orientation after the extremely marginal results of last Sunday’s parliamentary elections. The delay in the announcement of the final results is due to the fact that the last vote by mail had to be counted very carefully. At the last moment, the seat passed from the Social Democrats to the camp of conservative, ultra-right and liberal forces, united in a united front.

“I’m worried about how things will develop”

So outgoing Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson had no choice but to admit defeat at a press conference on Wednesday night and announce her resignation. Today, she goes to Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen to inform him of this decision so that he can relieve her of her duties. “From the polls, we knew all along that it was going to be a close race, so we weren’t surprised that the election took this turn and not the other. But, of course, I am worried about how things will develop here in Sweden in the next few years,” she says.

The baton is now being taken over by Ulf Kristerson, who, together with a coalition of right-wing, liberal and far-right forces, has a marginal majority of 176 votes against 173 for the Social Democrats. Forming a majority government in Sweden, which is not an easy task, requires at least 175 seats. So the balances are very thin. Immediately after the result was announced, Kristerson sent a unity message to the people via Instagram.

And the far right in government

“Sweden has the election results,” he says. “Moderate political forces and other parties on my side received the mandate for the change we asked for. Now begins the task of forming a new effective government, a government for all of Sweden and for all citizens. I am proud of the trust we have received, but I also know that there are many disappointments in society. There is fear, violence, anxiety about the economy. The outside world is very unstable and political polarization has become very large, even in Sweden. So my message is that I want to unite rather than divide, to see what unites but also to respect real differences. I want to give hope. Even big problems can be solved. Thank you for your trust.”

The involvement of the far-right Sweden Democrats is taken for granted. It received the largest number of votes among the right-wing coalition parties, but its leader Jimmy Akesson is still considered unlikely to be given a mandate to form a government. Other parties are not going to accept it. Akesson’s party first entered parliament in 2010 and has been on the rise ever since. In 2012, he introduced a “zero tolerance for racism and extremism” policy, but had previously argued that Muslim immigration was the biggest external threat since World War II.

Source: Deutsche Welle.