Voters punish Swedish Social Democrats
By Peter Lindgren
STOCKHOLM — The result of the general election on September 20 reflected the growing polarisation in Swedish society. The ruling Social Democrats suffered a defeat of historic dimensions. Not since 1922 has its vote been lower.
The vote for the Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Göran Persson, shrunk by 8.7% to 36.6%, and they lost 30 seats. The Social Democrats lost votes to the ex-communists of the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet). The Vänsterpartiet won its highest ever vote of 12%, winning 21 extra seats, bringing its total in parliament to 43.
The conservative bloc — the main conservative party, the Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and the Centre Party — won a total of 44.3% of the vote and 159 seats.
The right-wing Christian Democrats — a homophobic, neo-liberal party — also won its best result since its formation in 1964. Its vote jumped 7.7% to 11.8%.
The Social Democrats also lost votes to "the sofa" — the number of eligible voters casting a vote dropped from 86% to 78%.
Sweden's unemployed traditionally support the Social Democrats by a clear majority, however at this election only 35% of the country's 500,000 jobless supported them. The Left Party won a record 27% support among the unemployed.
Government austerity and cutbacks were the main reasons behind the Social Democrats' losses. Corruption scandals, a new phenomenon in Swedish politics which emerged in the 1990s, also hurt the Social Democrats. "I have harmed people", conceded Persson after the result. "I failed to explain why it was necessary", he added.
This was also the first election since Sweden joined the European Union in 1995. The Social Democrats were the most important "Yes" party in the 1994 referendum that approved membership.
All opinion polls since the end of 1995 have shown that a majority of Swedes now want to leave the EU; among blue-collar union members it's up to 70% (84% of the workforce are union members, the highest in the world).
Commentators agree that the Swedish political system is in crisis. Parties which supported the government's policies all did very poorly. The situation in the new parliament is uncertain and some commentators are already talking about the possibility of a new election.
The Social Democrats are to form a minority government with the support of the Left Party, and possibly the Greens. With the Left Party's support, the government will have 174 of 349 seats in the parliament.
Despite his party's drubbing, Persson is unrepentant: "I will never risk my credibility with the market. I will not gamble with the debt. Sound finances will come before any reforms."
However, having to negotiate with the Left Party may get the prime minister into trouble. During the election campaign, the Left Party promised workers a shorter work week and reforms to lift the living standards of the poorest sections.
It should be remembered, however, that the Social Democrats' austerity program passed in 1994 had the support of the Left Party. Two years ago, a coalition of the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens severely cut Stockholm's health budget.
The leaders of the Left Party says they are willing to compromise on "every issue". But are all the new Left Party parliamentarians willing to go along with new cutbacks and to break their party's most important promises in exchange for "influence" in the new government? Time will tell.
In contrast to other parts of Europe, no openly racist party is represented in Sweden's parliament, reflecting the still strong support for the welfare state in this country.
The parties to the left of the Left Party, including the Fourth International-affiliated Socialist Party, maintained their support but did not win any extra representation.
In a comment on the election, the Socialist Party said it was a "tragedy that the extreme left lacked the maturity to form a broad, democratic front during the election campaign. This must be done before the European Parliament elections in the spring of 1999." In the meantime, the party stated, the left "must prepare a common struggle against the cutbacks".