NationStates Jolt Archive

Here in Sweden, we will vote on Sunday in elections for parliament, county and local municipal councils.

At present Sweden is governed by the Social Democrats, however in opinion polls, it is looking very close between the left-wing parties (Social Democrats, Green and Left Party) and the Alliance of right wing parties (Moderates, Peoples' Party the Liberals, Centre Party and the Christian Democrats).

If the Alliance win it could mean a major change in Swedish politics.

The poll is for any Swedes (I know there are a few on here); how do you plan on voting?

News in English on Sweden's election:
www.thelocal.se
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5334712.stm

I thought Swedish politics were pretty central. Aren't you simply deciding between one socialist coalition and another slightly less socialist coalition?

First the Liberal Party spying the Social Democrats' internal network and now the bomb scare in Malmö... Exciting shit you have going on there.

I thought Swedish politics were pretty central. Aren't you simply deciding between one socialist coalition and another slightly less socialist coalition?

Not exactly. Although it is true that the Moderates have attempted to cast themselves as more of a party of the centre, for instance dropping plans to cut taxes for the rich that they advocated in the past. This, together with the whole Alliance of the four centre right parties, has arguably led to less options for voter choice in this election.

If I could vote in Sweden, The June List (Junilistan) all the way!
(Yes, I hit the wrong voting button by accident!)

Can't you guys vote for the Pirate Party? I would so vote for them.

Bah, Berlin elections are more interesting. Go Green!

Can't you guys vote for the Pirate Party? I would so vote for them.I will.

What, no Viking Party? For shame, Sweden, you have let down my limited, American cultural perceptions once again.

If I lived in Sweden I would vote Green.

Though Perrson has been in office too long.

According to exit polls from SVT (Sveriges Television) and the commercial TV4, the alliance of the right wing parties has a lead of between 2 and 4 % over the left block.

So, it looks like we will get a new government of the right.

According to exit polls from SVT (Sveriges Television) and the commercial TV4, the alliance of the right wing parties has a lead of between 2 and 4 % over the left block.

So, it looks like we will get a new government of the right.

A 2%-4% lead won't be enough to have a secure majority, though. I think we might be seeing a german-style grand coalition.

A 2%-4% lead won't be enough to have a secure majority, though. I think we might be seeing a german-style grand coalition.

I think there is next to no chance of this happening. SVT projects that the right will (unfortunately) have a majority of the seats in the riksdag. Certainly enough for the four right wing parties to govern without needing any extra support from other parties. That is if the results are similar to the exit poll.

I am so freggin' nervous right now. Such a tight election...

I thought Swedish politics were pretty central. Aren't you simply deciding between one socialist coalition and another slightly less socialist coalition?
Not really (though the right-wing alliance has been trying to take the votes from the Socialist-Democrats), but we're still far more diverse than the US elections (not that that says very much :p ).

Current: Right-wing has 0.3% lead. 1 seat difference in the Riksdag.

I am nervous too.
But unfortunately I think when the votes come in from the cities, (m) will get a boast and there will be more than a 1 seat gap in the end. I hope not though!

Me too. This is going to be very interesting...

So, it looks like we will get a new government of the right.
They don't seem to be all that right-wing, fortunately.

They don't seem to be all that right-wing, fortunately.
I believe they'll become more so now that they've won.

Göran Persson has resigned!

Yeah, Im kinda sad. He was more impressive than the other leaders with his eerie calmness.

I'd vote for The Pirate Bay. Best thing Sweden has ever done.

I elect meatballs and furniture! ;)

I'd vote for The Pirate Bay. Best thing Sweden has ever done.
How about the wrench? TNT? Certain types of lokomotives? The design of Coke bottles and zippers? ABBA? The centigrade scale? Blowtorch? Pacemaker? The match? Tetra pak? Longboats? Throwing axes? Blonde bombshells?

Wait, that last one doesnt belong there <.<

Seriously though, every year they have a "school election" which is basically an election which doesnt do anything, just check what you people think, and the Pirate Party got over 4%.

How about the wrench? TNT? Certain types of lokomotives? The design of Coke bottles and zippers? ABBA? The centigrade scale? Blowtorch? Pacemaker? The match? Tetra pak? Longboats? Throwing axes? Blonde bombshells?

Wait, that last one doesnt belong there <.<

Seriously though, every year they have a "school election" which is basically an election which doesnt do anything, just check what you people think, and the Pirate Party got over 4%.
Not Pirate Party, Pirate Bay. Torrents for all!

Not Pirate Party, Pirate Bay. Torrents for all!
The Pirate Party is pretty much formed by Pirate Bay people, so...

End tally: Left 171 seats on Riksdag, right 178.

are there any non-left parties in sweden?

are there any non-left parties in sweden?
No. They all phail.

Yes, there are non left parties in Sweden. They've just won the election. Moderate Party, Centre Party, Peoples' Party Liberals and the Christian Democrats.

There are also other right wing parties not currently represented in parliament. For instance, the extreme right party Sweden Democrats has won a significant share of the vote in the elections to county and municipal councils in the south of the country... which is concerning.

Misread post, thought poll was oppinion for anyone, not just swedes, discount vote, sorry.

Misread post, thought poll was oppinion for anyone, not just swedes, discount vote, sorry.
I bet only one Swede has voted so far.

The [new government] says changes to Sweden's rigid labour market and high cost welfare system are long overdue, and promises to cut both employer taxes and unemployment benefits.

It also wants to cut the large social sector, which currently employs 30% of the Swedish job force.

Poor Sweden. :( You have my sympathies.

Indeed a sad result for Sweden which I very much enjoyed visiting on a holiday last month. If I lived there I would have voted for the Left Party but I also wanted to see a strong showing for the Feminist Initiative.

There are also other right wing parties not currently represented in parliament. For instance, the extreme right party Sweden Democrats has won a significant share of the vote in the elections to county and municipal councils in the south of the country... which is concerning.
Maybe because the south is where cities like Malmo are located which are third world immigrant havens that form their own communities that dont contribute to the economy, but leech of the welfare state.

And people that see this are getting sick of it, so they vote for the only party who even RECOGNIZES the problem.

Anyway, the reason why the Right Wing coalition one can be found here:

Millions of Swedes voted Sunday in a close election that could see the Social Democratic government lose its 12-year grip on power to a center-right alliance vowing to trim and improve the famed Scandinavian welfare state.

The four-party opposition bloc led by Fredrik Reinfeldt surged in last-minute opinion polls to overtake Prime Minister Goran Persson's Social Democrats and their two supporting parties.

Still, analysts said the race was too close to call and both leaders predicted a photo finish.

"We don't have a result yet," Reinfeldt told Associated Press Television News before joining the other alliance leaders for a stroll through downtown Stockholm. "We are confident that we have made a good election campaign."

First results were expected within hours of polls closing at 1800 GMT.

After 10 years in power, Persson, 57, is the European Union's second longest-serving prime minister after Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker. But this year, he faces his strongest challenge yet from the center-right bloc, which is campaigning on a common platform for the first time.

"My feeling is that this will be very even, very tough," Persson told TV 4's morning program.

Persson says Sweden's social model - a market economy blended with a high-tax welfare state - is at stake. But the opposition led by Reinfeldt's Moderate Party insists it would not dismantle the system but help it survive by promoting jobs over welfare handouts.

According to a survey released late Saturday by pollster Synovate Temo, the opposition had a clear lead with 50.8 percent, compared with 43.9 percent for the Social Democrats and their allies. About 1,700 people were interviewed in the Sept. 13-16 survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Sweden is enjoying strong economic growth - 5 percent in the second quarter compared with the EU average of 2.8 percent - but that does not appear to have given Persson's government the boost it expected.

Reinfeldt, 41, accuses the government of failing to translate the growth into more jobs and claims the official statistics showing 5.7 percent unemployment are misleading. If you add people on sickness or disability leave or government job-training programs the figure is higher than 20 percent, he says.

Another potential problem for the Social Democrats is that their partners in the 349-seat Riksdag, the small Left and Green parties, are demanding Cabinet seats as a condition for keeping Persson in power.

Reinfeldt hopes wavering voters will ultimately opt for the alliance because it presents a clear alternative - a coalition government including Moderates, Christian Democrats, the Center Party and the Liberal Party - while the configuration of a new leftist government remains unclear.

"I think we need new blood," said Kao Lindstrom, 40, after casting her ballot for the Moderates at a Stockholm polling station. "But many people I know are not sure."

Persson is hoping for a high turnout among Sweden's 6.8 million voters, which historically favors the Social Democrats.

"I've always voted for the Social Democrats and I guess I'll stick with them now," said Lars Hallen, a 59-year-old retiree.

Britta Holmberg, 37, said she voted for the Green Party, because she feared the alliance was "a threat to the welfare system."

Smaller parties such as the Feminist Initiative or the far-right Sweden Democrats will be hard pressed to reach the 4 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, polls show. The Sweden Democrats have largely been left out of political debates before the election because of their anti-immigration views.



http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1157913645636

W00t! Finally an end to that bloated, stagnated social democrat government! Now maybe we can actually get some sensible political decisions, rather than just ignoring problems and hoping they'll go away on their own.

W00t! Finally an end to that bloated, stagnated social democrat government! Now maybe we can actually get some sensible political decisions, rather than just ignoring problems and hoping they'll go away on their own.

What do you hope the new government will change?

What do you hope the new government will change?

Lots of things: lower employment fees and taxes so more (especially small) companies can hire, improve our increasingly sucky schools, cease and desist the irresponsible shutting down of nuclear power facilities, put all those huge and useless governmental institutions on a fiscal diet, open up for more private alternatives in health care and schools, etc etc.

Lots of things: lower employment fees and taxes so more (especially small) companies can hire, improve our increasingly sucky schools, cease and desist the irresponsible shutting down of nuclear power facilities, put all those huge and useless governmental institutions on a fiscal diet, open up for more private alternatives in health care and schools, etc etc.
So you want to deSwedenize Sweden?

So you want to deSwedenize Sweden?

Not at all. The generous cradle-to-grave welfare system is an integrated part of Swedish society and should remain as a safety net for people. However, that sometimes overly generous system is widely abused; people stay at home and do nothing and getting paid for it while they are fully capable of getting a job. If less and less tax-paying workers are to support more and more welfare takers, the system will collapse eventually anyway. That's why a revitalization is in order.

Also, the public sector schools and hospitals will still be there (though they need improvement on severaly levels); there should just be alternatives in the private sector as well.

Not at all. The generous cradle-to-grave welfare system is an integrated part of Swedish society and should remain as a safety net for people. However, that sometimes overly generous system is widely abused; people stay at home and do nothing and getting paid for it while they are fully capable of getting a job. If less and less tax-paying workers are to support more and more welfare takers, the system will collapse eventually anyway. That's why a revitalization is in order.

Also, the public sector schools and hospitals will still be there (though they need improvement on severaly levels); there should just be alternatives in the private sector as well.
But if you do that, Sweden would be just another western country.

But if you do that, Sweden would be just another western country.

I fail to see how that is a bad thing.
You couldn't possibly think a system where people can live off doing nothing is good?
I'm personally extremely happy over our change in government.
The left wing have done so many stupid things it's not even funny these last four years too. I think that helped to tip many over.

Cromotar has explained why it's good very well. Being another western country is what Sweden needs.

I fail to see how that is a bad thing.
You couldn't possibly think a system where people can live off doing nothing is good?
I'm personally extremely happy over our change in government.
The left wing have done so many stupid things it's not even funny these last four years too. I think that helped to tip many over.

Cromotar has explained why it's good very well. Being another western country is what Sweden needs.

Indeed. Over the past few years Sweden has steadily slipped downwards in several social fields compared to other nations. With the increased globalization, we can no longer live in our little bubble. We're seeing increased competition from other countries' industries, and unless our currently heavily tax-burdened companies can compete, we won't have much of an economy in a few years.

Indeed. Over the past few years Sweden has steadily slipped downwards in several social fields compared to other nations. With the increased globalization, we can no longer live in our little bubble. We're seeing increased competition from other countries' industries, and unless our currently heavily tax-burdened companies can compete, we won't have much of an economy in a few years.

Yes, I agree with both of you. You make very good points for your arguement, so congrats about your government.:p