Sweden swings sharply to the right as Prime Minister resigns

Sweden swings sharply to the right in a general election that is seen as a vote against liberal policies that many blame for the growing rate of crime in the country.

The final vote count on Wednesday, September 14 shows that the coalition between the centre right and the far right won 176 of the 349 available seats. That’s just three more than the opposition.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced that she would now step down, saying that she accepts personal responsibility for the loss.

Winning 49.6 per cent of the vote against the 48.9 per cent of the ruling liberal coalition, the result gives the right a slim majority that will enable it to change the direction of the country on many fronts.

Of concern to observers is that the far right took 20.6 per cent of the vote making it the second largest party, behind the Social Democrats who polled 30.4 per cent of the vote.

Although the Moderate party only polled 19.1 per cent of the vote, their leader Ulf Kristersson is widely tipped to become the new Prime Minister.

With negotiations now underway to agree on ministerial roles in the new government, Swedes will have to wait and see who gets what and how the appointments might change politics in Sweden for good.

But this is not the first time this has happened in Sweden, with the last time this happened leaving Swedes waiting for more than 134 days before a government was formed.

So for now as Sweden swings sharply to the right, the world will have to wait and see what that means both for the country, but also for its relationship with among others the EU.

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