Sweden narrowly re-elects centre-right alliance

[Grog]

Sweden's governing centre-right alliance has been re-elected, but is short of an overall majority, official preliminary results show.

They show PM Fredrik Reinfeldt's four-party coalition won 173 seats out of 349 in parliament.

The far-right Sweden Democrats are said to have gained more than 4% of the vote, enabling them to enter parliament for the first time.

Mr Reinfeldt declared victory and said he would seek support from the Greens.

The Social Democrat-led opposition leader, Mona Sahlin, has conceded defeat.

"We were not able to win back confidence," she told supporters. "The Alliance is the largest majority. It is now up to Fredrick Reinfeldt how he plans to rule Sweden without letting the Sweden Democrats get political influence."

Mr Reinfeldt said previously he did not want to speculate on how his Alliance for Sweden coalition would deal with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats if they got into parliament.

But both main political blocs have said they would rather co-operate with each other than form a coalition with a party which they say is racist and xenophobic.

BBC regional reporter Damien McGuinness says the Sweden Democrats appear to have tapped into voter dissatisfaction over immigration.

Immigrants make up 14% of the country's population of 9.4 million.

The largest immigrant group is from neighbouring Finland, followed by people from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and Poland.

The centre-left Social Democrats had ruled Sweden for 65 of the past 78 years, and are credited with setting up the country's generous welfare state.

It is the first time a conservative government has won re-election in Sweden for about a century.

From here.

I'm very sad that the idiotic Sweden Democrats got into parliament. And the arrogant assholes in the danish equivalent congratulating Sweden to becoming a normal country.

I hope it wont be too chaotic. Minority governments have worked before.

[CJvR]

That is, unfortunately, not a majority.

Somewhat paradoxically despite increasing it's share of the votes the goverment will lose it's majority in parliment.

[His Divine Shadow]

It's too bad (SD) got in, didn't like to see that. Rather that the blues had their own majority. I wouldn't have minded (S) winning on their own either, but this is block politics now and because of their allies (V) and (MP) I am glad they didn't.

The differences between the blue block and (S) are marginal from what I can see otherwise but the few key issues that are important to me (nuclear power, hunting and shooting).

[Julhelm]

Well that's what happens when you don't throw the white trash contingent a bone now and then. Most people I know that vote SD are the stereotypical prepensioned or chronically unemployed lazy fucks who blame their own failure on them thar moozlems. Fucking idiots. Now we won't get a majority government.

[Dooey Jo]

It's what happens when politicians scream their heads off trying to distance themselves from the racists instead of crushing their ridiculous arguments. But instead it was the racists that got to sit calmly and explain their shit without much opposition, and also got to play the victims when the self-proclaimed democracy protectors also tried to shout them down. And it's just so stupid, because it's blindingly obvious that SD's leader has got a lot of repressed anger in there (as does the party's secretary. Now that is a scary guy), and it would be so easy to bring that out in the open and make him snap by intelligently debating him, but we can't have that, now can we...

It is the first time a conservative government has won re-election in Sweden for about a century.

Yeah if a century is more like 30 years. But it didn't work out that well last time so maybe it doesn't count

Also, losing the majority isn't exactly a re-election for the allegiance. They can have fun trying explain why they will be collaborating with the racists. The greens might help them, if the conservatives turn their environmental policies around 180 degrees, which would be positive, but of course that will never happen.

[Julhelm]

Well noone can deny there's a serious problem with integration policies in this country (which is mostly due to the disastrous S policies from mid-90's onward when Sahlin was minister of integration) but everyone's tried to hush it down instead of taking the debate and thus people vote for SD. They're especially huge among young people who have grown up during the 90's when there was a serious surge in white power culture and those raised in 1950's era sweden where everyone was blonde and blue eyed.

Also I do not believe the alliance will work with SD. That's political suicide and everybody knows it. It's likely we'll see some other solution such as the Alliance throwing S a bone.

[Dooey Jo]

Also I do not believe the alliance will work with SD. That's political suicide and everybody knows it. It's likely we'll see some other solution such as the Alliance throwing S a bone.

It would be even more political suicide for S to accept such a thing. S has been open to working with the Centre and Volks Party before, but both of them are too afraid of teh commiez now, so fat chance of that happening.


Oh, even more also, there's nothing "centre" about that government. The Centre Party has given up all aspirations to their own name by being openly more right wing than the goddamn right party itself will admit to being (it's their new tactic that got them elected in the first place). They also claim to be a green party, but it's turned into a more distinctive brown colour over the last decades or so, and now they quite openly want people to travel less by trains and buses (they think Britain's deregulations were very positive and mean to go even further in about 20 days), and more by car and air (they think everyone will drive electrical or otherwise CO2 neutral cars in ten years so building huge freeways around the capital will of course be more environmentally friendly than spending a nickle on public transportation. Somehow).

[Julhelm]

Yeah, because being much more left than what passes for centre-right in the rest of europe equals being brown. Let me guess, you're one of the 5.6% who vote V and see fascists behind every bush? You can bitch and moan about how horrible the capitalists are but there's a more important issue on the table now and that is about not giving into the crypto-nazis.

[His Divine Shadow]

Also, losing the majority isn't exactly a re-election for the allegiance. They can have fun trying explain why they will be collaborating with the racists. The greens might help them, if the conservatives turn their environmental policies around 180 degrees, which would be positive, but of course that will never happen.

Like not building nuclear power?

[Julhelm]

The left-wingers are probably busy now masturbating to the thought of S/V/MP collectively forcing Reinfeldt to work with SD so they can sit there from their opposition corner and point fingers about how the dirty right-wingers are collaborating with the racists just like we said all along they would!!!11!

[CJvR]

...but both of them are too afraid of teh commiez now, so fat chance of that happening.

Don't confuse contempt with fear.

[Dooey Jo]

Yeah, because being much more left than what passes for centre-right in the rest of europe equals being brown.

No, being a rotten green party equals being brown. Which Europe are you talking about where dissolving worker's rights and giving away public property would be considered leftist?

Let me guess, you're one of the 5.6% who vote V and see fascists behind every bush? You can bitch and moan about how horrible the capitalists are but there's a more important issue on the table now and that is about not giving into the crypto-nazis.

No, sorry, you must have me confused with the "centres" that see commies around every hint of socialism.

Like not building nuclear power?

Like not diverting money that would have gone to public transportation to a freeway that everyone except ideologues know will be pointless when it's completed anyway, or not start hunting an already redlisted species, or perhaps not letting Iceland et. al. hunt endangered whales and seals? Like not encouraging even more car traffic, making bus fares higher, setting the railway back several years, or the construction of coal plants in other countries. Etc. etc. Really, I don't know how far up one's ass one would need to have buried one's brain in order to not see just how fucked up the right's environmental policies are, but go read MUFs environmental reports for a nice primer of how everything's fine, all scientists except a few economists are lying, and the market will solve the problems that apparently don't exist (and even they managed to find ways to criticise the wolf hunts).

[cosmicalstorm]

I'm quite tired of people who want to explain SD's success with some kind of racist-magic. I have friends who live in the immigrant rich areas and I've spent a lot of time there over the past decade. In the past year alone practically not a single night goes by without cars being torched in some places. The schools needs to be built in ways that makes it impossible to light them on fire with a dozen CCTV cams all around them. Firetrucks and ambulances have to wait for police-escort to go to large parts of the suburbs with the result that buildings burn down and people die when they could have otherwise been saved if the ambulance / firetruck could get there in time. In my own highschoolclass two girls were literally kidnapped by their own relatives and brought to Yemen to be forcibly married to old men. You just can't blame all that on socio-economical problems, we've had lots of poor people in Sweden in the past and they never resorted to this kind of unexplainable violence. The people who defend the current immigration policy do all they can to play down these issues or blame them on other things. They apply moving goalposts when defending it.
It's for the economy!
Can you back that up with some numbers?
Well it's for humanitarian reasons!
Ok so where do we draw the line for how many people we choose to accept?
There is no line, no human is illegal!
What does that mean?
Aha, you're a racist!
Anyone who questions the usefulness of accepting tens of thousands of people, of which 95 % claim they don't own a passport despite having just travelled halfway around the world, and of which statistically speaking a very large portion will remain unemployed and dependant on Swedens welfare system for the forseeable future, risks being labeled a racist. I voted for the Alliance but there is a big problem with immigration right now and a lot of people refuse to admit it.

[Julhelm]

No, being a rotten green party equals being brown. Which Europe are you talking about where dissolving worker's rights and giving away public property would be considered leftist?

Dissolving what workers rights? Oh God, the A-kassa fee is higher so dumbshits leave it voluntarily because they think 6-800 a month is too much to pay for unemployment insurance. They can go fuck themselves. But I guess you prefer the S way of massively disproportionally overtaxing small businesses so that they are more susceptible to employing people black. Back when I was unemployed under the Persson government, black jobs was pretty much all one could find.

No, sorry, you must have me confused with the "centres" that see commies around every hint of socialism.

You mean continuing the trend started by S under Carlsson when they started selling out state-owned businesses and abused the economy enough for the Moderates to take the blame when the inevitable crash occurred, which btw has been admitted by none other than Kjell Olof Feldt himself.

Like not diverting money that would have gone to public transportation to a freeway that everyone except ideologues know will be pointless when it's completed anyway, or not start hunting an already redlisted species, or perhaps not letting Iceland et. al. hunt endangered whales and seals? Like not encouraging even more car traffic, making bus fares higher, setting the railway back several years, or the construction of coal plants in other countries. Etc. etc. Really, I don't know how far up one's ass one would need to have buried one's brain in order to not see just how fucked up the right's environmental policies are, but go read MUFs environmental reports for a nice primer of how everything's fine, all scientists except a few economists are lying, and the market will solve the problems that apparently don't exist (and even they managed to find ways to criticise the wolf hunts).

I agree that the alliance environmental policy has been an unmitigated disaster, especially thanks to that fuckwad Erlandsson, but the truth of the matter is that there is really no meaningful alternative as MP would never have joined the alliance because of petty ideological differences. MP should deal with the environmental bit and not the whole package. Then I'd vote for them.

[CJvR]

... with the Swedish migration politics is that it has never been debatable. Any critic of it have immediately been labled a racist and anything they have to say have been dismissed without even considering that there might be a point to be made. That is not to say there have not been changes and restrictions, but they have always been made out of sight for the public.

The election result of the SD is not that big a surprise, except for those who don't want to belive in it. In 30 years the public have been asked to swallow a long line of excuses and evasions on the immigration issue.

First we got: There is no problem.
Then it was: Remember the labour migration in the 1950'ies and how good that turned out, except this time there were no jobs available.
As the ghettoes started to fill: We will integrate to new Swedes into society...
When integration failed so badly that it couldn't be covered up anymore we were served the blessing of the multi cultural society.
The future excuse will likely be that we need immigration to take care of an aging population...

It is hardly surprising that people who rate migration policy as an important issue is drawn to SD and have little or no confidence in politicians. SD might be racist and many in the SD top still have the brown shirt and jackboots in the back of their wardrobe but so what? You might think the migration politics would be a big issue, it is not - except for a small % of the voters.

[CJvR]

RMS Sweden might still miss the iceberg. The final result will not be counted until Wednesday and the margins are very small. Currently the 5 seat difference between the opposition and the goverment hangs on 0.1% ( 7000 )of the vote and there remains about 2% of the vote to count ( ~150000 ). Depending on where those votes end up, geograpicly and politically the goverment might still secure a majority.

It could even end up with a majority for the goverment but a minority in parliment seats...

[His Divine Shadow]

Like not diverting money that would have gone to public transportation to a freeway that everyone except ideologues know will be pointless when it's completed anyway,

A valid complaint, but this like the rest.

or not start hunting an already redlisted species, or perhaps not letting Iceland et. al. hunt endangered whales and seals? Like not encouraging even more car traffic, making bus fares higher, setting the railway back several years, or the construction of coal plants in other countries. Etc. etc. Really, I don't know how far up one's ass one would need to have buried one's brain in order to not see just how fucked up the right's environmental policies are, but go read MUFs environmental reports for a nice primer of how everything's fine, all scientists except a few economists are lying, and the market will solve the problems that apparently don't exist (and even they managed to find ways to criticise the wolf hunts).

It's just all chump change regarding small issues as far as I can see compared to the pure retardness that is the greens luddite anti-nuclear policies. Nuclear power being pursued is more important by far in the long run than the petty stuff listed here. Also can Sweden tell Iceland to stop and they will do it?

[Eleas]

I'm quite tired of people who want to explain SD's success with some kind of racist-magic. I have friends who live in the immigrant rich areas and I've spent a lot of time there over the past decade. In the past year alone practically not a single night goes by without cars being torched in some places. The schools needs to be built in ways that makes it impossible to light them on fire with a dozen CCTV cams all around them.

Small problem with this (and what I will further on refer to as "Black Sunday" in general) is that SD don't have a solution to this in any way, shape or form. There is indeed something to what you say - it's not uncommon when you admit a lot of people with traumatic experiences (not all of them are, but not an inconsiderable amount, either), let them languish with little in the way of gainful employment or any reason to socialize beyond their fellow immigrants, and then determine them to be the Problem that stands in the way of Aryan Purity. The last bit is roughly what SD stands for, mostly managing to avoid using similar terms. It's what we might expect from the last decade's saturation of anti-Islamic rhetoric in the media. Nothing new under the sun.

But wait - the fun with SD doesn't stop there! Their social policies are similarly, uh, radical. Such as their view on abortion (ban! ban! ban!), reinstitution of the aptly called "women trap" of favouring stay-at-home motherhood, and their unique analysis of how the economy is to be salvaged (hint: these measures will cost around 50 million after expenses are paid, but without raising taxes. Somehow.) Their slogan is, apparently, "Safety and Tradition." And I suppose that's also apt, in a way (as long as the safety of untermenschen isn't considered, but that seems like a safe fucking bet as far as SD is concerned).

Yeah, I fucking hate the Moderates with their gleeful pursuit of widening class divide. But even the most inveterate goddamn Christ Democrat would weep in shame at the sheer misogyny and bigotry of these assholes in SD who, right now, don't even seem to know what they'll do with this power that they, in a sane country, would have had no chance to attain. I'll say this for Reinfeld - I don't think his concern about this turn of events is anything less than genuine. This is truly an unmitigated fuckup.

They're in the fucking parliament. Jesus fucking Christ. Remember when we used to mock American politics? I dare anyone to do that now and don't feel like the world's biggest hypocrite.

[Julhelm]

I don't think SD would have ever been in parliament if Sweden was all good and well. Instead the incumbent parties never admitted they fucked up the integration policy, nor did they ever admit they completely nerfed law enforcement to the point where sentencing is a joke these days, and they never seriously did anything about the unemployment except more measures intended to mask the statistics. I have friends in their 30's who have never held a real job and probably never will. They just get shuffled from internship to internship or "seek job"-courses with no prospective of ever having any real money of their own. I used to be there myself during the last S term. I do not agree with the moderates but voted for them anyway since otherwise S would just retake power with the same old recycled policies for a 1950's industrial Sweden that no longer exists and we'd never see any change then.

Maybe now they'll finally acknowledge the problems and actually do something about them instead of ignoring them.

[Eleas]

I don't think SD would have ever been in parliament if Sweden was all good and well.

Oh, I don't dispute that. I still feel it's shameful, however. And I remember my childhood in Åkarp/Arlöv with a great deal of clarity. Let's just say the all-too-frequent instances of assholes breaking public property and beating the shit out of whomever? Not immigrants. Just hicks who got off on hurting people. An anecdotal piece to balance out cosmicalstorm's, above.

Of course, the attempts at integration have gone completely to shit, because it's done in such an utterly idiotic way, and it rather feels right now that instead of making serious (and by necessity costly) efforts at turning people around, getting them settled, and then productive... instead, this "we'll just put them there to see if something happens" attitude is being extended to people in general. People like the underclass and the young. People who have learning disabilities or suffer real medical conditions, but who nonetheless want only to work and apply their considerable, now wasted potential.

People, in short, like me; I only made it because my family is moneyed.

[Spoonist]

Before the Swedish elections a politician from Sweden Democrats (brownish right wing) claimed he was attacked by two assailants that carved in a swastika into his forehead. This was milked for all it was worth by that party.
http://www.thelocal.se/29106/20100919/

A forensic medical report has contradicted claims by a Sweden Democrat politician that he was attacked in his home by two masked men who carved a swastika into his forehead.
According to the report, there are strong indications that Malmö council candidate David von Arnold Antoni may have inflicted the wound on himself, casting doubt on his claims to have been pinned to the floor by two "Arab-sounding" men.

A medical examiner concluded that "the position and appearance of the injury provide strong indications that it was self-inflicted," local newspaper Sydsvenskan reports.

The medical examiner said there was a 90 percent likelihood the story was a hoax, a source close to the investigation told Sydsvenskan.

[CJvR]

Well the final count will be in tomorrow. The preliminary count gives the opposition only 7000 votes more than the goverment, that should ony give a difference of one seat rather than the 5 according to the preliminary count. That means some seats are extremely marginal and with over 100000 votes still uncounted there is a good chance that the goverment, traditionaly strong in the late mail and foreign votes, could well secure a majority.