Back in September Sweden held a general election, after which the Social Democrats assumed the leadership of a minority governing coalition under Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. After the government’s budget failed to gain approval in a parliamentary vote on December 3, Mr. Löfven announced that new elections would be held in March 2015.

The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) are the only immigration-critical party represented in the Swedish parliament. They received almost 13% of the vote in September, and hold 49 of 349 parliamentary seats. The other seven major parties (sjuklövern, “the 7-clovers”, the seven-party system) have formed a cordon sanitaire around SD, vowing never to enter into any coalition or electoral alliance with the “racists”.

All of that may change come next March, however. According to the latest polls, the Sweden Democrats are now preferred by 16% of the voters. They constitute the third-largest party, and are gaining fast on the Moderates in second place. By the time the elections roll around, SD may hold too strong a position for the other parties to successfully ignore.

Many thanks to Alfred Fredriksson for translating and subtitling this Swedish TV news video: