Sweden’s left-wing opposition has crawled ahead as votes from Sunday continue to roll in, suggesting that the four-party coalition will unseat the right-wing incumbents.
asserted
coalition → crawl → incumbents
Preliminary results show that the alliance led by Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson has pulled ahead by three seats in the Riksdag with approximately 94% of votes recorded.
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% → show → votes
With a margin of only 30,000 votes, there is still room for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing coalition to flip the outcome, but the opposition has confidence the lead will hold.
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lead → be → confidence
“If this result remains valid, Sweden will get a new government,” Andersson boasted to her supporters on election night.
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Andersson → remain → night
If predictions hold, the Social Democrats’ left-wing bloc will walk away with 176 seats, compared to 173 held by the Moderates’ right-wing bloc.
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bloc → hold → bloc
Social Democrats press secretary Tobias Baudin told the media that he has already tapped counterparts across the coalition to prepare to remove Kristersson.
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he → tell → Kristersson
“Now the voters have had their say, and they have given him a failing grade for himself and his government,” Baudin told Swedish outlet SVT.
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Baudin → have → SVT
“He should resign himself.
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He → resign → himself
In fact, it doesn’t matter.
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it → matter → fact
If he doesn’t resign, he will be removed.
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he → resign → ?
The Sweden Democrats seem to have suffered the most notable losses of the election, giving up 11 seats and slipping behind the mainstream Moderates.
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Democrats → seem → Moderates
It’s the first time the party has shrunken since its genesis in 1988.
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party → ’ → 1988
The outsider right-wing party grew slowly for decades before exploding into the mainstream ahead of the 2022 election.
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party → grow → election
Heading into the Sunday election, the Sweden Democrats were even larger than Kristersson’s mainstream Moderate Party.
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Democrats → head → Party
Their popularity was charged by a stiff opposition to immigration, dedication to recentering Swedish language and culture, and a platform advocating harsh crackdowns on gangs and organized crime.
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popularity → charge → gangs
Kristersson promised to hand party leaders ministerial positions if they helped carry his coalition, which also includes the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, across the finish line.
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which → promise → line
Right-wing commentators have expressed frustration with the breakdown of voting tendencies across demographics, citing exit poll data showing immigrants of “non-European background” voted overwhelmingly for the left-wing parties.
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immigrants → express → parties
Critics attacking the governing coalition from the right accused them of sowing their own defeat by continuing to grant citizenship to non-European immigrants.
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Critics → attack → immigrants
“During the right-wing government, they handed out ~200k citizenships, predominantly to Middle Eastern and African immigrants who almost exclusively vote for the left,” wrote Evelina Hahne, a campaigner for fringe party Alternative for Sweden.
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Hahne → hand → Sweden
“If they hadn’t done that, they would have won.
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they → do → that
If the left-wing parties’ lead holds, it will be a tough road to forming a governing coalition due to deep conflicts between Social Democrats and the other constituent parties on issues such as immigration and the economy.
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it → hold → immigration
“The Center Party backs Andersson as the most likely candidate for prime minister, opening a path for cooperation across Sweden’s traditional blocs,” according to a report released last week by the Atlantic Council.
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Party → back → Council
“However, it rules out a government that includes the Left Party and opposes giving either the Left Party or the Sweden Democrats decisive influence over key policy areas.
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that → rule → areas
The Left Party, in turn, has declared that it will vote against any government in which it is not represented.
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it → declare → which
If the various parties cannot negotiate a mutually acceptable arrangement, a slew of possibilities open up.
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slew → negotiate → possibilities
A German-style “Grand Coalition” is highly unlikely, having happened only once during World War II.
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Coalition → happen → II
And if the Moderates’ coalition indeed suffers a three-seat deficit, that does not mean Kristersson will give up.
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Kristersson → suffer → deficit
He said Sunday that the election results might cause a “complicated government formation,” but “where it ends remains to be seen.
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ends → say → formation
“If all the red lines remain, then Sweden won’t have a government at all,” the prime minister added on Monday ahead of a meeting with coalition partners.
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minister → remain → partners
“I plan to pursue a number of possibilities that may exist.”
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that → plan → possibilities
The parliament is set to meet on Sept. 28, and the speaker will be able to nominate a new prime minister beginning on Sept. 29.
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speaker → set → Sept.
Such nominations must be approved through a simple majority.
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nominations → approve → majority
If four consecutive votes for prime minister fail, a new election is immediately triggered.
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election → fail → minister
The Aporia
