COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The elections in Sweden to the European Parliament marked the first electoral setback for the Swedish populist party with far-right roots that grabbed more than 13% of the votes but came fourth, according to preliminary figures Monday. That made Sweden one of the few countries in Europe where the far-right is in retreat.
The Sweden Democrats grabbed 13.2 % of the votes, down 2.2%, and would keep their three seats in the EP assembly, according to preliminary figures.
They came in behind the opposition Social Democrats, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s conservatives Moderates and the Greens, which made some of the largest gains Sunday in the EU election for Sweden’s 21 seats. The Social Democrats grabbed nearly one-fourth of the votes and would get five seats while the Moderates would get four and the Greens three.
The poor showing by the Sweden Democrats was “the election night’s greatest sensation,” said Mats Knutson, the political analyst with Swedish broadcaster SVT.
He said the reasons for the poor showing could be that the party faced a storm of criticism after a television station had alleged that it had been operating fake social media accounts, badmouthing political opponents and allies, spreading doctored videos and posting racist remarks. Knutson also noted that the migration issue wasn’t particularly important to voters this time.
Christine Nissen, an analyst with the Copenhagen-based think tank Europa, said that migration wasn’t the top issue in northern Europe in contrast to southern Europe where “issues such as migration are important for the voters there.”
While Sweden Democrats lost voters across most groups, one key exception was young people.
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Publish date : 2024-10-01 13:55:34
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Publish date : 2024-10-02 19:15:23
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