STOCKHOLM: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven called the country’s first snap election in over half a century yesterday after a far-right party torpedoed his two-month-old government’s budget in a parliamentary vote.
The announcement of March 22 polls came after the ruling minority coalition failed to push its budget past the populist Sweden Democrats, who refused their support in parliament in response to the government’s pro-immigration policies.
The snap vote will be Sweden’s first since 1958 and is highly unusual for what is often considered one of Europe’s most stable democracies.
The March election “is meant to let voters take a stand in this new political landscape,” Loefven said at a briefing.
Loefven’s Social Democrats emerged as victors of parliamentary elections in September, joining the Greens in a minority centre-left government that ended eight years of centre-right rule. However, the Sweden Democrats became kingmakers after winning 13 percent of the vote. Yesterday’s drama was centred on the budget, the ruling coalition’s version winning only 153 of 349 votes, while a centre-right alternative was passed — with the help of the Sweden Democrats — with 182 votes. AFP
