Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Wednesday that his party (the Moderates) would aim to form a majority government with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats if it wins the September 13 legislative elections.
This decision, long awaited given the parties’ close cooperation with the current right-wing minority government, clarifies a major issue for voters as the campaign intensifies.
The center-left opposition bloc is currently leading the polls, and the right must unite if it hopes to form a government.
“After the election we will form a four-party majority government,” Ulf Kristersson told a press conference. “I will form and, as Prime Minister, lead this government.”
Kristersson said the Sweden Democrats would wield significant influence and hold key ministerial portfolios in such a cabinet, citing immigration and integration as areas the party could lead.
The Swedish Democrats, the second political force in the 2022 election, have long been ostracized from political life before becoming indispensable to the right, which cannot claim power without their support.
A NEW STEP IN THE QUEST FOR INFLUENCE, ACCORDING TO AKESSON
Founded in part in 1988 by activists linked to neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements, the Sweden Democrats apologized last year for its anti-Semitic and racist past.
The party entered parliament in 2010 and currently supports the right-wing coalition in the Riksdag under a wide-ranging cooperation agreement, although it has no cabinet members.
Jimmie Akesson, who has led the Sweden Democrats since 2005, when the party was a small, marginal group, said it was only the latest step in a long-term strategy aimed at gaining influence and compete with the Social Democrats as the country’s main political force.
“We are there, but we are not yet satisfied,” he told reporters. “We will now win this election, and then we will advise.”
Last month, a major obstacle to the Sweden Democrats’ entry into a possible right-wing government was removed when the Liberals reversed their historic refusal to support a cabinet including Mr Akesson’s party.
If the center-left bloc currently dominates voting intentions, the Social Democrats, the leading party in Parliament, face their own difficulties in building a government coalition involving several small parties.
