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News > Sweden

Far-Right Kristersson is Elected as Swedish Prime Minister

  • Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Oct. 17, 2022.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Oct. 17, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @Zeke_05

Published 17 October 2022
Opinion

The new prime minister is a member of the Sweden Democrats (SD), an organization with neo-Nazi roots at its foundation in the late 1980s.

On Monday, the Swedish Parliament elected conservative Ulf Kristersson as prime minister, who will govern in a minority with Christian Democrats and liberals and with the external support of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD).

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Kristersson, who was elected with 176 votes in favor and 173 against, will read his government statement before Parliament on Tuesday and present his cabinet, which will formally assume power during a Council of State chaired by King Carl XVI Gustaf.

"Change is not only necessary, but also possible," Tobias Billstrom, leader of the conservative parliamentary group, said during the debate prior to the vote, insisting that Sweden needed a prime minister who "unites and does not divide."

The Social Democrat leader Lena Hallengren described the new executive as "weak" and led "to a large extent" by the SD. The agreement between the four political forces includes tightening immigration policy, fighting crime, promoting nuclear energy, and cutting development aid.

The SD leader Jimmie Akesson acknowledged that his party would have preferred a majority Executive to have been part of, but stressed that he has obtained "significant" political influence in the agreement and that "it is as if we were in the government."

Previously, Kristersson was officially commissioned to lead the negotiations after Norlén met with all the political leaders and a majority endorsed him.

The SD, with neo-Nazi roots at its foundation in the late 1980s, was subjected to a "cordon sanitaire" by the rest of the forces since entering Parliament in 2010, which explains why the Social Democrats have governed in a minority two past legislatures despite the fact that there was a center-right majority in the Chamber.

In the last year, however, Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Liberals have opened up to break that isolation and agree with the SD, although they rejected its entry into an executive.

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