Sweden is holding parliamentary elections on September 13 in a vote that could prove historic for the country, according to Reuters.
Voters are electing 349 members of the national parliament, as well as representatives of local authorities. Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. local time, with the first exit polls expected shortly after voting ends.
The election could result in the far-right entering government for the first time or see Sweden return to the liberal course for which it was long known.
Several polls conducted this week show Sweden’s center-left opposition holding a narrow lead over the governing right-wing bloc ahead of the election, pointing to a possible change of government.
However, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who has trailed in opinion polls throughout his four-year term in office, has narrowed the gap in recent weeks as the campaign has entered its final stage, while his rival Magdalena Andersson and her Social Democratic Party have lost ground.
Supporters of the right-wing bloc argue that its policies have helped curb violence by criminal gangs and significantly reduce immigration. In their view, an electoral victory would signal public support for this course and pave the way for similar measures to continue in the future.
Critics, however, contend that the program undermines civil liberties and forces immigrants either to adhere more strictly to Swedish cultural norms or leave the country, applying what they describe as a “carrot and stick” approach.
“We’ve become a harder society, a quieter society, but also a poorer society as we’ve had growth far below our potential and where households see their pay checks buy less and less,” Andersson told Reuters. “Our country has based its strength on sharing in each other’s achievements and that we stick together when things are hard.”
By Jeyhun Aghazada
