STOCKHOLM, Sweden 鈥 As the dust settles from Sweden鈥檚 national election last month, a country known for its mild-mannered politics and tolerance toward immigration has entered a period of soul-searching.
The far-right Sweden Democrats, a populist, anti-immigration party, garnered an unexpected 5.7 percent of the vote, stunning voters and ushering the party into parliament for the first time.
A rally, hastily organized through Facebook a day after the election, drew about 10,000 Swedes to central Stockholm, according to media reports and organizers. The demonstrators held placards and speakers denounced the Sweden Democrats as racists. News programs intending to dissect the election returns instead devoted the lion鈥檚 share of their time to one baffling question: 鈥淗ow did the Sweden Democrats win?鈥
Speaking to supporters on election night, Jimmie Akesson, the 31-year-old bespectacled party leader of the Sweden Democrats, appeared cool and collected, assuring voters the party was ready to lead.
"We won't cause problems. We will take responsibility. That is my promise to the Swedish people," he told reporters and a jubilant crowd.
The results have mirrored those of recent elections in countries such as the Netherlands, Demark and Hungary, where voters handed losses to long-ruling center-left parties or leaned to the right. In the Netherlands, the anti-immigration Party for Freedom took on 24 seats during June鈥檚 election and is now the third largest Dutch political party.
鈥淓veryone wants immigrants taken care of but they don鈥檛 want to take care of them,鈥 said Anas Abullah, a member of Swedish center-left Social Democrats party, who came to Sweden with his parents from Syria when he was 16. 鈥淚n my opinion people have been terrorized and failed to meet the Sweden Democrats in debate and to be clear on how we see immigration.鈥
Abullah blames the ineptitude of traditional political parties and poor integration policies for the Sweden Democrats鈥 rise. Like many Swedes, Abullah was shocked the party even broke the national vote threshold of 4 percent let alone picked up 20 seats in parliament.
If left unchecked, he predicts the Sweden Democrats will continue their electoral gains.
鈥淢aybe they鈥檙e 10 [percent of the vote] next time or 15 if we keep going,鈥 he said.
The party, which traces its roots to neo-Nazi groupings from the 1980s, wants to reduce immigration to Sweden by 90 percent and has called Islam 鈥渦nSwedish.鈥 Although the party denies it, many see the group as xenophobic or outright racist.
鈥淭hey are framing immigrants as a problem,鈥 said Masoud Kamali, a professor at the Center for Multiethnic Research at Uppsala University. 鈥淪weden has no policy to integrate them鈥 after they arrive.
All seven other parties represented in parliament say they will boycott the Sweden Democrats even though cooperating with them would provide either coalition on the right or left a clear majority.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of the New Moderates has held talks with the Social Democrats to hash out policies, specifically on integration and immigration, in order to limit the influence of the Sweden Democrats. Although no government has been formed, Reinfeldt will announce on Tuesday who will head the various ministries.
Still too young to vote at age 17, Pascalle Arias said the rise of the Sweden Democrats has galvanized soon-to-be voters in her generation. She believes most voters chose the party to protest the existing political system rather than to support its policies.
鈥淧eople haven鈥檛 really understood the things they stand for,鈥 said Arias, born in Sweden to Chilean parents. 鈥淚 think most of them voted to provoke.鈥
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/101002/sweden-election-immigration-far-right