The Big Bad Swedish Politics & News Thread

[Gustaf]

Does this open the door to right-wing cooperation with SD a little bit more? At this point, would most of the people who voted for a former Alliance party consider cooperation with SD acceptable?

Not really. There is still quite some way before cooperation can be on the table.

The SD brand is toxic and they're not perceived, by themselves or others, as part of the right-wing. Which is different from say Progress Party in Norway which I think was even in the days before formal cooperation happened.

But sure we are slowly moving there.

[Gustaf]

Tino Sanadaji is an interesting guy. I've had a couple of conversations with him. He's become very popular with the SD crowd though in a way that is a bit unappealing.

[Gustaf]

I swear to God, if you guys keep derailing this thread any longer by turning it into yet another thread where people name call others for being racist or what ever I will pull a Politicus and delete it. The thread is here for people to have sensible discussions about Swedish news and politics, not whether you think Denmark is the worst thing on this planet. Which is a ridiculous discussion that has no place here.

I am sorry for my share of derailing. You know I like this thread very much and have contributed to it in the past. Just felt the need to reply to some particularly bizarre remarks.

Meanwhile, SD has declined in the polls a little, now being somewhere between 16% and 20% -- consistently below both S and M.

Like DavidB I'm sorry about the negative contribution my answer to eric82oslo created, which was why I decided to not answer MaxQue provocation and ignore BundouYMB, and just post news.

BTW as for the whole Roma camp in Malmö, have it been Sweden discusses whether to deport them back to Romania (it's fully legal) or will they be given housing?

LMAO the Roma aren't from Romania.

LMAO, most Roma in Sweden are from Romania.

[Gustaf]

This government is almost criminally incompetent. Claiming that all is fine and then suddenly reversing completely is extremely poor management.

[Gustaf]

This government is almost criminally incompetent. Claiming that all is fine and then suddenly reversing completely is extremely poor management.

Seriously?

You don't think:


has anything to do with it?

This is obviously a rather horrible decision, but one that has been forced upon us by the medieval attitudes of most other European countries.

I do. And you can note that at the point where your graph ends, after that rise, the government was still insisting that it was all fine and there was no limit to how many refugees we could take. They were obviously lying to the people when they said that and just lying without a strategy is very unimpressive IMO.

It's also contributing to the complete insanity in terms of "solutions" we're seeing produced now.

[Gustaf]

What is the base of the Sweden democrats, it seems to be more stronger in areas in the south, which are largely right-wing?

Who do the working class vote for in Sweden?

My impression is that most SD voters are originally Social Democrats, but the switch has often happened via Moderaterna. I mean, if you look long term, M is about the same level as they were 20 years ago, the only established party that has lost massive amounts of voters is the Social Democrats.

The working class historically votes predominantly Social Democrat, with certain groups voting for the Left and a minority voting M. Recently, SD is gaining a lot in this demographic and it wouldn't surprise me if they surpass the Social Democrats at some point, as has happened in places like Austria and Denmark.

[Gustaf]

The whole thing is insane. This government is so incompetent it defies belief...

[Gustaf]

I still expect M to bounce back a little when we approach the election. It isn't given that the largest party gets to lead the coalition either. In  1979 C led a coalition government with FP and M in it even though M was the largest party. Of course, in those days Sweden was so leftwing that a conservative PM was unthinkable and C and FP were closer together.

Today, I think it'd be much harder for SD to accept a C PM and they probably will need SD support.

[Gustaf]

What was the December Agreement?

It was an agreement where the centre-right pledged to allow left-wing budgets if they had a plurality, in exchange for the left doing the same after next election. PLus some other stuff, but that was the big one.

I honestly think Odenberg would be the right choice but they won't make it. It's a little bizarre, because a lot of M-people are acting as if AKB was the problem when the problem is very clearly one of policy. And yet there is no discussion on policy.

[Gustaf]

What was the December Agreement?

It was an agreement where the centre-right pledged to allow left-wing budgets if they had a plurality, in exchange for the left doing the same after next election. PLus some other stuff, but that was the big one.

I honestly think Odenberg would be the right choice but they won't make it. It's a little bizarre, because a lot of M-people are acting as if AKB was the problem when the problem is very clearly one of policy. And yet there is no discussion on policy.

What are the main problems with M policy then? Being open towards working with the Sweden Democrats or are there other problems as well?

M used to favour restrictive immigration policy. In government, under Reinfeldt, they 180ed on this pursuing a super-liberal line and in the process alienated much of their base which switched to SD. Now they're trying to regain those voters by being SD-lite, in the process alienating their liberal voters who are now deserting them for C.

They're caught between a rock and a hard place on this and it's difficult for them to get credibility. That's inherent to the situation and not created by AKB. 

[Gustaf]

The way the polls are moving, I will now say that if Venstre gets above the threshold, things are looking very good for the current four majority parties, even if the Greens cross the threshold as well. A recent Respons poll for Aftenposten has this scenario with a 88-81 lead for the current majority parties.

Frp is getting a great deal of attention on their key issue of immigration, which means that they are reaching the 16.3% or above from 2013 in several polls in these days. First, Sylvi Listhaug got a great deal of attention with her proposal to stop following the ECHR's rulings, then Støre decided to make his attack on Solberg for "making Norway a colder and harder place" due to taking Frp into government and accepting Listhaug's rhetoric and proposals, and the finally, there has been a lot of talk about Listhaug's recent trip to Sweden. The Swedish immigration minister Helene Fritzon cancelled on her just before their planned meeting, so instead Listhaug went to the crime-infested ghetto of Rinkeby to illustrate the failed Swedish immigration policies that Norway should try to avoid.

I quote this from the norwegian election threat to ask swedish posters if Rinkeby is in fact an evidence of "failed" swedish immigration policies. I know crime, poverty and unemployment is high there, but is not surprising given the kind of people are there (poor immigrants/refugees from abroad+some poor swedes) and the government are doing good policies there. I read that the schools there are doing great things to integrate the population and despite the difficulties, there are clear advances to integrate people into swedish society. But I don't really know and it could be great to know something from a svensk.

Well, the debate is very polarized. Rinkeby is pretty bad by normal Swedish standards but it's not Somalia, or even Detroit as some people would have you think.

In terms of it being evidence of failed immigration policy, I don't know. Sweden has had a policy of taking in very large numbers of refugees with very low human capital. I think integration efforts have been decent, given that, but it was probably never going to lead to anything other than the outcome we have in in those areas. I guess you can view it as a failure in the sense that our political leaders seem to have actually not understood what the obvious consequences would be, but it's a bit like calling a budget deficit "evidence of failed spending policy".

Sweden doesn't really have integration in the sense that people who come here remain underemployed and segregated for their entire lives and so do their children. From that perspective integration in the longer term is a monumental failure, obviously.

[Gustaf]

could the Liberals or Centre ever support (or join) a Social Democratic government?

Yes. I mean, they both have historically. The Centre party supported the Social Democratic government 1994-1998, C and L ruled with S support 1982-1983, C ruled in government with S 1951-1957 and 1936-1939 and supported them 1932-1936.

Thing is, historically it always hurts a centre-right party to work with S. But the current C would probably rather do that then have anything to do with SD.

[Gustaf]

KD 4th biggest party at 10.6%. With L under the threshold, there is a M-KD-SD majority.

Is voting in Sweden private? I mean, I saw pictures of party lists being in the open, so everyone could see which party list you take.

I could have misunderstood, so that's why I'm asking.

You take a ballot for every party and then cast only one, in private. This system is still criticized, though.

Edit:

Just read a bit more about it.

So basically, most people will take just one ballot, and if you take the SD ballot (and everything else along with it) people are likely to know you are voting SD, since I doubt a Socialist or Moderate would feel pressured to take all of the ballots, and would only take the one they need.

Not sure how it works in Sweden, but here we use a similar system although depending on the polling place, the ballots will be either inside a cabin or out in the open (there doesn't seem to be an standard for this)

However, many parties (especially the large ones) send ballots to each voter. So if you plan on voting for the large parties you can go directly to the ballot box and put your vote there.

Not sure if Swedish parties send ballots home though.

They are out in the open, but yes parties usually send you ballots by mail as well. It isn't principally ideal but I don't Think the effect is that big to be honest.