A Missed Opportunity to Save Sweden

by Fjordman

Some Swedish patriots and sympathizers abroad had hoped that the 2018 general elections would mark a breakthrough for more nationally-oriented parties and restrictive immigration policies. This did not happen.

The elections were held on September 9, 2018. The final election results were not ready until September 16, a full week later. For a technologically sophisticated nation, it should be possible to count votes faster than this.[1] This is yet another reminder that Sweden is no longer the efficient and well-functioning country it once was.

The right-wing Sweden Democrats (SD) did gain 13 seats in Parliament compared to the previous election, now holding 62 seats in total. Virtually all opinion polls had predicted that they would grow. Yet SD did not grow as much as some opinion polls had indicated. Many polls had suggested that the Sweden Democrats could surpass the Moderate Party to become the second-largest party. Several opinion polls from 2018 had SD receive about 21-26% support.[2] One opinion poll published a couple of months prior to the election gave them as much as 28.5% support.[3] This would have made them larger than the Social Democrats.

The Swedish Social Democrats have been the biggest party in Sweden continuously since the early 1900s. If they had been dethroned from this position, this would have had a significant psychological impact on Swedish society. While the Social Democrats had their worst election since 1911, they remained the largest party.

The Sweden Democrats didn’t even become the second-largest party. SD retained their spot as number three at 17.5%, behind the Social Democrats at 28.3% and the Moderates at 19.8%.[4] Alternative for Sweden (AfS), a new party that wants even more restrictive immigration policies than the SD, came nowhere near receiving the 4% of the votes needed to enter the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag).

It is interesting to notice that the two largest parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderates, in 2014 combined received 54.34% of the votes and 197 mandates in Parliament. In theory, the two major parties could thus have formed a majority coalition government together. This would be similar to the way the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) have ruled Germany together since 2013.

However, in 2018, the Social Democrats and the Moderates together got 48.1% of the votes. This earned them 170 seats in combination, less than the 175 needed to form a majority in the Swedish Parliament.

Establishing the next government in Sweden will be complicated. Especially if all the other parties keep treating the Sweden Democrats as evil racists that they do not want to cooperate with.

That the Sweden Democrats performed less well on election day than several polls had indicated contributed to speculations about election fraud. No election in Sweden’s recent history has been mired by more allegations of irregularities or possible attempts at election fraud. One Swedish voter suggested to me that it might easier to tamper with early votes that were stored out of view for several days before being counted, compared to votes cast in public polling stations on election day. It is extremely difficult to assess the truth of such allegations. However, the fact that rumors of possible election fraud circulated widely in Sweden in the days after the election indicates declining trust in the legitimacy of the political system. This is noteworthy by itself.

For many Swedish patriots, the election was an anticlimax. Some of them reacted with resignation, even despair. On certain websites, you could read a few Swedes stating that this was the last chance to save Sweden. They would now emigrate, joining the thousands of Swedes who have already left their increasingly dysfunctional Multicultural society.

Others remain more optimistic. After all, the Sweden Democrats grew by 4.7% between 2014 and 2018. However, parties that support mass immigration received about 82% of the registered votes. Problems related to street violence and criminal gangs will thus probably continue to increase until at least 2022.

All things considered, the September 2018 elections represented a missed opportunity to save Sweden.

Notes:

1. www.thelocal.se/20180916/swedish-election-authority-finishes-vote-count Swedish Election Authority finishes vote count 16 September 2018 2. www.expressen.se/nyheter/val-2018/s-profilens-varning-sd-kan-fa-25-procent/ S-profilens varning: SD kan få 25 procent. 28 aug 2018. 3. www.friatider.se/m-tning-sd-rusar-till-295-procent Mätning: SD rusar till 28,5 procent. June 20, 2018. www.metro.se/artikel/sd-%C3%B6verl%C3%A4gset-st%C3%B6rst-i-ny-yougovm%C3%A4tning-ett-dr%C3%B6ml%C3%A4ge-s%C3%A5-h%C3%A4r-n%C3%A4ra-ett-val SD överlägset störst i ny Yougovmätning: “Ett drömläge så här nära ett val” Metro, 20 Jun 2018. 4. valresultat.svt.se/2018/ Riksdagsvalet: Sverige. September 16, 2018.

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