Sweden woke up on Monday morning to a new political reality with a completely new political landscape that will have dramatic implications for both Sweden and Europe. The Social Democrats, the party that defined modern Sweden if you consider that their policies that have turned entire Swedish cities into no go ghetto’s for Swedes including large swathes of Stockholm Sweden’s capital. Sweden’s consistently most conservative voters have done the unthinkable and expressed their disgust by handing the ruling elite with their smug sense of entitlement the worst election result for almost a century. Fredrik Reinfeldt’s centre-right Moderates achieved the best results since full democracy was introduced. This country that has prided itself on tolerance has given an anti-immigrant party the balance of power in Sweden’s new parliament.
Predicted Results
The election of the Sweden Democrats was widely predicted and roughly in line with polls and predictions. The lack of a clear government majority however somewhat dampens the success of the centre-right parties, who may have to seek an accommodation with a dubious Green Party. The Sweden Democrats succeeded in gaining the votes of a populations growing resentment against the outgoing Swedish governments large-scale immigration policies. 14 percent of Sweden’s population is now comprised of people with a foreign background.
Jimmie Åkesson
The Sweden Democrats, with its dynamic and somewhat charismatic young leader Jimmie Åkesson, ran a highly professional campaign after toning down much of the party’s more extreme calls to throw immigrants out of Sweden but their message to curb mass immigration held firm and gained them votes. Åkesson capitalized on the fact that his party was shunned by the incumbent political establishment and their mainstream media allies. He successfully harnessed the resulting underdog status this gained him to great advantage.
Victorious Sweden Democrats
It now looks like the Sweden Democrats have come of age and they are likely to become a lasting force in Sweden’s new politic political landscape, The rise of the Sweden Democrats and the rout of what seemed to be the permanent government of the Social Democrats is likely to have long-lasting consequences.
Social Democrats Defeat
The Social Democrats have ruled Sweden for 65 of the past 78 years and built up a socialist model of a highly taxed state with generous welfare benefits. However its emigration policy and the resulting of crime and rape wave in what was once a very low crime country with rape as a very rare occurrence had its share of the vote dwindle to just 30.8%. This is the party’s worst result since 1914, and reduces it to the same level as the Moderates for the first time ever.
Realignment of Moderates
The Social Democrats see themselves the victims of Reinfeldt’s shrewd realignment of Moderates rather than their destruction of Sweden’s social fabric as a result of their emigration policies. Reinfeldt strategically persuaded his party that the Swedes had had enough and were now ripe for a gentle move to the right, but not too far. He identified the centre ground while recognising Sweden’s problems and smartly and moderately used his opponent’s own language to conquer it. He managed to form the Alliance for Sweden by creating an alliance with other centrist parties that showed the voters that he was leading a viable alternative to the tired and dithering old establishment, and he promised to rule in genuine partnership.
Sweden’s Decisive Right Turn
The New Moderates are likely to form a coalition government somewhat reluctantly with Greens support. They have promised tax cuts for ordinary wage earners and aim to reduce unemployment as their priorities. Reinfeldt has dubbed his party as the ‘New workers’ party’, commandeering the name of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party. His message to voters was the overthrow the Social Democratic Party with the retention of the Social Democratic system. Despite his undertaking Sweden has not replaced Social Democracy with ‘Social Democracy lite’. Sweden is heading rapidly from having the highest taxes in the world towards the European average. Conservative hard-liners may think Reinfeldt hasn’t gone far enough with the top rate of income tax still at 58 percent, but he is signalling that Sweden has taken a decisive right turn.
A David and Goliath Victory
As Reinfeldt’s Moderate Party celebrated their election night victory party, they were just beginning to realize the extent of their David and Goliath victory as they looked at the elaborate Social Democratic linked LO union’s bastion of entitlement headquarters they were reminded of the entrenched establishment hurdles they had just overcome and the uphill journey they had made. The ruling elite that The Moderates have so roundly defeated those who had maligned them as ‘far right’ and ‘fascists’ in their dirty fear driven negative smear campaign. Despite all the slings and arrows they have managed to change the course of Swedish politics and history and they are proudly aware of it.
Defeat of the Media Narrative
Sweden’s monolithic mainstream mass media’s all pervasive influence has finally lost its iron grip on the people. For decades they have acted like an orchestral conductors guiding and influencing the populace. Their downplaying of the destructive influence of emigration on Swedish infrastructure and society was the equivalent of telling their audience that black was white. They have been so arrogant that they thought their delusional narrative would have been accepted without question by the people as it had in the past. Suddenly the impact of the election result hit them like a thunderbolt from the blue with the realization that their narrative is no longer able to herd the people into a predesigned course of action. The old order is crumbling in Sweden and everywhere else and that can only be for the best.