Löfven re-elected: Swedish politics back on track?
Two weeks after losing a vote of no confidence and one week after resigning, Sweden's Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has been re-elected by a narrow majority. The vote of no confidence was initiated by the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats after the Social Democrats and the Left Party had a falling-out. Observers point to numerous flaws in Sweden's political landscape.
Time to get the Sweden Democrats on board
Jyllands-Posten doubts that the new minority government will survive for long and pins its hopes on the conservative parties:
“The conservative parties no longer completely reject cooperation with the Sweden Democrats, whose anti-immigration stance is no more rabid than the immigration policy of the Danish parties - the Social Democrats and all those further to the right. If the Sweden Democrats are allowed to join in now, a taboo will be broken - and it's about time, too. The fact that a completely democratically elected party with considerable voter support has been so ruthlessly sidelined illustrates the depth of the Swedish crisis.”
Social Democrats have forgotten social democracy
Löfven's party is giving up its identity for the sake of remaining in power, comments Kai Strittmatter, the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Scandinavia correspondent:
“With all the compromises they're making Sweden's Social Democrats are forgetting social democratic policies. The welfare state in Sweden has been in the process of gradual dismantling and privatisation for some time now; inequality is growing whether or not the Social Democrats are in government. The disenchanted are migrating to the fringes: some to the right-wing populists, others to the Left Party, which can consider itself the winner of the last few weeks. Löfven has saved himself yet again for now, but new challenges are already looming this autumn, when the budget is negotiated. After the crisis is before the crisis.”
Liberal conservatives are the losers here
For Aftonbladet the liberal-conservative party Moderaterna and its leader are the real losers here:
“One could ask who has really been acting strategically in recent weeks. Ulf Kristersson, who has been overrun by the developments and has had to face the fact that yet again, he won't be prime minister? Or [the chairman of the far-right Sweden Democrats] Jimmie Åkesson, who led his party straight into the official negotiations about the next prime minister? It's three years ago now since Ulf Kristersson promised Holocaust survivor Hedi Fried that he would not cooperate with the Sweden Democrats. Now the moderates are planning to run a joint election campaign with them.”