To that end, certain delicate topics were taboo, but no longer, he said. “Now the political debate is quite heated, people are rude to one another, not seeking consensus or trying to understand their opponent.”

By opening the borders so completely, he said, “we misunderstood the practical implications, that it wasn’t sustainable in the long term or even moral, because we ended up essentially closing our borders, which is worse.”

Near the Flen library, Alma al-Aallaf was walking with her younger cousin, both wearing headscarves. Three years ago, she came here as a refugee from Damascus, Syria, to join her aunts and pave the way for her parents and three siblings.

Now 18, she will vote for the first time and is taking her responsibility seriously, especially with the Sweden Democrats on the rise.

She feels visible but not unsafe, she said. “Sometimes I feel that some people don’t like me here,” she said. “But I don’t think they will do anything.”

“I’m worried, of course, because the Sweden Democrats are getting bigger and bigger,” she said in the English she learned from her mother, who was a teacher in Damascus.

“Sweden is a good country, but they could ruin it,” she continued. “They are damaging the things that are good in Sweden.”