Swedish elections 2018
September 5, 2018 2:31 AM Subscribe
As the Swedish election season draws to a close, with early voting in progress and official balloting in all precincts on Sunday, the far-right nationalist Swedish Democrats are leading foreign reporting on the election to the consternation of the established Swedish media (in Swedish). The far right party will likely be the second largest party by representation in parliament on Monday morning, but are unlikely to build sufficient alliances with the established party blocks to be able to build a government. Both the ruling Red-Green alliance (the Social Democrats, Left, Green and Feminist parties) and the center-right (Moderaterna, Liberalerna(formerly Folkpartiet), Center, Kristdemokraterna party alliances are each currently polling at about 40%. Will bot accounts meddling in social media affect the outcome or will Sweden buck the trends of recent elections?
Which party has the best campaign posters?
Which party has the best campaign posters?
Thanks for doing a post on the election in Sweden. I've been tracking this as best can through the summer (it has personal implications for work and emigration), and news sources about it from here in England have not been great.
The wikipedia page for the Swedish general election, 2018 is pretty useful and the graph of the polls changing (in more detail on a different page) on it has been interesting to watch.
posted by Wordshore at 4:39 AM on September 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
The wikipedia page for the Swedish general election, 2018 is pretty useful and the graph of the polls changing (in more detail on a different page) on it has been interesting to watch.
posted by Wordshore at 4:39 AM on September 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Lycka till, Sverige friends.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:48 AM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:48 AM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Thanks, OP. I voted early before I left for a trip back to the US. Am afraid to read about the election because it is so disheartening.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:44 AM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 7:44 AM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Who with and how do Swedes discuss politics? At all?
posted by anthill at 1:18 PM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by anthill at 1:18 PM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Who with and how do Swedes discuss politics? At all?
posted by anthill at 1:18 PM on September 5 [+] [!]
Sweden's late etiquette queen Magdalena Ribbing answers your question: politics is not be be discussed with people you don't know, but rather you should talk about the weather. I suppose if you really have a hankering to discuss politics take a trip to Visby the first week of July any year for Almedalsveckan.
But one of the interesting aspects of this election season, and its coverage in Swedish and foreign media respectively, is the open discussion of the Overton window (åsiktskorridoren), especially in relation to established, traditional media channels contra alternative online sources. See for example the much-discussed documentary The Swedish Elephant.
posted by St. Oops at 2:14 PM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by anthill at 1:18 PM on September 5 [+] [!]
Sweden's late etiquette queen Magdalena Ribbing answers your question: politics is not be be discussed with people you don't know, but rather you should talk about the weather. I suppose if you really have a hankering to discuss politics take a trip to Visby the first week of July any year for Almedalsveckan.
But one of the interesting aspects of this election season, and its coverage in Swedish and foreign media respectively, is the open discussion of the Overton window (åsiktskorridoren), especially in relation to established, traditional media channels contra alternative online sources. See for example the much-discussed documentary The Swedish Elephant.
posted by St. Oops at 2:14 PM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
So are you saying that social conventions value harmony, to the extent that political talk is discouraged? Or just in the most-formally-polite settings?
posted by wenestvedt at 2:43 PM on September 5, 2018
posted by wenestvedt at 2:43 PM on September 5, 2018
I'd wager it's pure naivety and ignorance on my part, but I'm still amazed at how easily Sweden's external and internal perception as a liberal, harmonious, tolerant society has been sundered in just a few years. It's quite depressing, really. This rising tide of fascism in western democracies scares me.
posted by smoke at 3:22 PM on September 5, 2018
posted by smoke at 3:22 PM on September 5, 2018
Is there any place in the world that ISN'T turning into a far-right cauldron of hate at this point?
posted by chrominance at 4:34 PM on September 5, 2018
posted by chrominance at 4:34 PM on September 5, 2018
So are you saying that social conventions value harmony, to the extent that political talk is discouraged? Or just in the most-formally-polite settings?
posted by wenestvedt at 2:43 PM on September 5 [+] [!]
I wouldn't argue that harmony is necessarily the driving factor here, but rather an aversion to in any way making oneself conspicuous. Many Swedes would likely refer at this point to Jantelagen as something distinctly Scandinavian. I'm not so sure about that, especially in light of the current reflective discussion of åsiktskorridoren/Overton window/political correctness, but there is certainly an element of a narrow range of behavioral conventions to which one is expected to conform.
posted by St. Oops at 12:53 AM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 2:43 PM on September 5 [+] [!]
I wouldn't argue that harmony is necessarily the driving factor here, but rather an aversion to in any way making oneself conspicuous. Many Swedes would likely refer at this point to Jantelagen as something distinctly Scandinavian. I'm not so sure about that, especially in light of the current reflective discussion of åsiktskorridoren/Overton window/political correctness, but there is certainly an element of a narrow range of behavioral conventions to which one is expected to conform.
posted by St. Oops at 12:53 AM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Interesting that it's opinion hallway (åsiktskorridoren) rather than opinion window (åsiktsfönstret, presumably).
posted by Chrysostom at 9:12 PM on September 6, 2018
posted by Chrysostom at 9:12 PM on September 6, 2018
Live coverage of the election in English at the Guardian.
posted by St. Oops at 10:21 AM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Oops at 10:21 AM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
The exit poll results are interesting. It's going to take a lot of compromising and arm-twisting to put a coalition government together.
posted by nangar at 12:00 PM on September 9, 2018
posted by nangar at 12:00 PM on September 9, 2018
OK, close to final results: Social Democrats – 28%, Moderates – 20%, Sweden Democrats – 18%. We won't have final official results till Wednesday.
The right-wing anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats gained some seats, but not as many as polls had been predicting. They came in third place. Some of the smaller parties also made gains.
Neither the center-left bloc or the center-right bloc has enough votes to form a government. The next government is going to have to be a broad-based centrist coalition. We'll see what that ends up looking like.
posted by nangar at 5:43 PM on September 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
The right-wing anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats gained some seats, but not as many as polls had been predicting. They came in third place. Some of the smaller parties also made gains.
Neither the center-left bloc or the center-right bloc has enough votes to form a government. The next government is going to have to be a broad-based centrist coalition. We'll see what that ends up looking like.
posted by nangar at 5:43 PM on September 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Do Swedish fiscal conservatives prefer socialists to Nazis? At thelocal.se, a political commentator speculated the Moderatana and KD might be the first to get in bed with the white nationalists, if it let them govern. Pessimistic?
posted by anthill at 10:38 PM on September 9, 2018
posted by anthill at 10:38 PM on September 9, 2018
The right and left blocks differ by just one mandate, and abesentee ballots tend center right, so the make up of Parliament really won't be clear until Wednesday.
The interesting lessons of this election are the Sweden Democrats performing under polling predictions and the gains of the smaller parties, several of which have been predicted to fall below the 4% threshold for representation. The Greens were the only smaller party to lose footing, but fortunately for the Red-Green block they squeaked by and will retain representation in Parliament with 4.3% of the vote total, down from 6.8% and losing 10 seats.
posted by St. Oops at 10:42 PM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
The interesting lessons of this election are the Sweden Democrats performing under polling predictions and the gains of the smaller parties, several of which have been predicted to fall below the 4% threshold for representation. The Greens were the only smaller party to lose footing, but fortunately for the Red-Green block they squeaked by and will retain representation in Parliament with 4.3% of the vote total, down from 6.8% and losing 10 seats.
posted by St. Oops at 10:42 PM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Do Swedish fiscal conservatives prefer socialists to Nazis? At thelocal.se, a political commentator speculated the Moderatana and KD might be the first to get in bed with the white nationalists, if it let them govern. Pessimistic?
The socially conservative parties can't build a government with SD without the support of the Center (farmers) and (Classically) Liberal parties, who have made it clear that the will not work with the far-right party.
posted by St. Oops at 10:48 PM on September 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
The socially conservative parties can't build a government with SD without the support of the Center (farmers) and (Classically) Liberal parties, who have made it clear that the will not work with the far-right party.
posted by St. Oops at 10:48 PM on September 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
The hot take online seems to be that the big story is less the rise of the SD and more the decline of strong parties in general.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 AM on September 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 AM on September 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
NYT: To End Stalemate, Will Sweden Include Far-Right Party in Government?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:57 PM on September 23, 2018
posted by Chrysostom at 8:57 PM on September 23, 2018
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posted by acb at 3:29 AM on September 5, 2018 [2 favorites]