Swedish Anti-Immigrant Party Breaks Through in Election

Sweden went to the polls this week-end, and the election results make one feel uncomfortable to say the least. The center-right four-party Alliance for Sweden fell short of a majority winning 172 seats out of 349. It remains the largest bloc, suggesting that Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt will keep his job. The opposition bloc of Greens and Social Democrats took 157 seats. The remaining 20 seats in the unicameral Riksdag went to the Sweden Democrats, a party avowedly anti-immigrant of the far right.

The Alliance needs just three seats more to function as the government, and so, it is likely that Mr. Reinfeldt will be able to steer some of the more important legislation through by relying on a handful of opposition votes. He hopes to get the Greens to support him on a case-by-case basis. Green Party co-chair Maria Wetterstrand has said the opposition bloc is going to stand firm.

Of course, that means that Mr. Reinfeldt could cozy up to the Sweden Democrats, who have never before had a seat. The mathematics suggest it as a clear possibility, and it is feasible that there are right-of-center issues where the Alliance and the Sweden Democrats can agree. Yet, Mr. Reinfeldt feels that would be a mistake, "I have been clear on how we will handle this uncertain situation. We will not co-operate, or become dependent on, the Sweden Democrats."

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson, who founded the party in 1988, now has a big platform from which to speak. "We have in many ways been treated as anything but a political party in this election," he said. "Even so, today we stand here with a fantastic result. The situation is a bit uncertain just now, but we have four years ahead of us to speak out on the issues that matter to us and influence Swedish politics."

While this journal does not support right-wing ideology as a matter of principle, there is no shame in conservatism so long as it is shaped by reason and is implemented in an effort to be constructive. The Sweden Democrats must prove that they can measure up, and frankly, there is no record one way or the other in this regard.

Mr. Akesson describes his party as a nationalist movement. The platform of the party calls for curtailing immigration. The party says Islam is un-Swedish, and of course, it is -- in the sense that very few Swedes whose families were there in 1900 practice that religion. That said, the statement reeks of bigotry just as surely as "Islam is un-America" does. However, the party denies all allegations that it is racist.

Immigrants make up about 1.3 million of the country's population of 9.4 million, about 14%. Sweden-Finns are the largest ethnic minority comprising approximately 50,000 along the border, and 450,000 are first and second generation immigrated ethnic Finns. Many of the others are from EU countries, and therefore, their position is secure by treaty. However, 40,000 are Roma (and numerous Roma got the boot in France last week), and over 100,000 Assyrians/Syriacs live in Sweden, including around 40,000 in Stockholm County, most of whom came from Lebanon in or around 1967. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Akesson is prepared to treat the Sweden-Finns and the Assyrians/Syriacs the same. One can only hope.

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