Nationalist, right-wing populist party makes major gains in Sweden's national election

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      The Sweden Democrats party has things in common with right-wing populist organizations around the word.

      Various media commentators have described it as anti-immigration and far-right—and in its early years it was rooted in fascism and white nationalism, like the National Front in the U.K. and France.

      The first auditor of Sweden Democrats was linked to the Waffen-SS and its first chairman was once active in the neo-Nazi Nordic Realm Party.

      Nowadays, Sweden Democrats denies any links to fascism but its hard-right messaging on crime and immigration have great appeal to the country's right-wing voters.

      And in the September 11 national election, Sweden Democrats made tremendous gains, increasing from 61 to 73 seats (as of the most recent count) in the 349-seat Riksdag. The leader, Jimmie Åkesson, tweeted that his party had a fantastic election.

      Sweden has a system of proportional representation, with 310 elected through party lists. Eight parties had seats in the Riksdag prior to the election—and it appears that the collection of centre-right and right-wing parties, including Sweden Democrats, currently have a one-seat lead as a result of yesterday's vote.

      Reuters has reported that this could conceivably make Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson the new prime minister, replacing Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, whose party gained eight seats as of this writing.

      She became Sweden's first female prime minister on November 30, 2021, after the resignation of her party's former leader, Stefan Löfven, following seven years in power.

      The Swedish election came a day after Canada's Conservatives voted overwhelmingly for a right-wing populist, Pierre Poilievre, as their party leader.

      Today, Poilievre is being derided over Twitter as "Skinny Trump"—to the point where #skinnytrump is now trending.

      Comments