Quoted for prime minister of Sweden, the leader of the Moderates, Ulf Kristersson, said in a meeting with the press on Friday (14) that he intends to govern alongside the far-right party Sweden Democrats after the coalition in which the two parties participate won. most seats in Parliament in the elections in September.
The previous prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, had announced her resignation shortly after the election, when the centre-left ruling bloc that her acronym was part of was defeated by the right-wing alliance, which also includes the Christian and Liberal Democrats.
The result of the election represented a turning point in the compass of local power. With 20.6% of the vote, the Swedish Democrats became the second largest party in the country, behind the Social Democrats (30.4%), and the largest on the right.
The party —owner of a nationalist rhetoric and neo-Nazi roots now purged— was hitherto marginalized by the political system. His anti-immigration arguments resonated with the population in the last election, however, making it impossible to govern without his support today.
The pact between Swedish Democrats and Moderates includes actions to lower the tax burden, start construction of new nuclear plants, cut benefits, give more power to the police and restrict immigration policies.
The last theme was mentioned by party leader Jimmie Akesson at Friday’s event. “For us, a transition in power has to mean a paradigm shift when it comes to immigration and integration policies,” he said.
The new government also announced that it intends to make it difficult for new immigrants to access benefits, and that the old requirement that 1% of total GDP should go to foreign aid should be replaced by a fixed sum.
Another proposal is that the police have the autonomy to reprimand gangs more severely; gangs, in turn, would face longer sentences.
The Swedish Parliament elects its new prime minister next Monday (17). Kristersson’s victory is taken for granted, but his party’s fledgling status could make governing for the next four years difficult.
The leader of the Moderates will depend on both Democrats and Liberals, who have opposing views on a range of issues. Any one of them could initially break away from the coalition and thereby force Kristersson to resign.
Among the urgent problems the new government must deal with are the environmental regulations related to climate change, which need to be relaxed, and the holes in the social assistance system revealed by the pandemic.
The future prime minister will still have to lead negotiations on the country’s entry into NATO, the US-led Western military alliance, pleaded in the midst of the Ukrainian War – the Baltic region, destabilized by the war, is a strip of water from distance from the Nordic country.
It also needs to secure funding for the country’s planned increase in defense spending, as Sweden is currently dealing with a cost-of-living crisis and could face an economic recession next year.
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