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The firewall against the right has fallen - and now, Sweden?

For decades there was a firewall between Sweden's mainstream parties and the Sweden Democrats (SD), founded in 1988.

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The firewall against the right has fallen - and now, Sweden?

For decades there was a firewall between Sweden's mainstream parties and the Sweden Democrats (SD), founded in 1988. The conservative-liberal parties never wanted to form a coalition with the sleazy children who emerged from neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist tendencies – or be tolerated.

As late as 2018, when there would have been a majority of the bourgeois bloc together with the SD, the conservative party leader, Ulf Kristersson, canceled – the social democrat Stefan Lövfen was able to continue in government. At the time, he made it clear what he thought of the right-wing populists: "They are a party with Nazi roots, they are racist, and I will do everything I can to ensure that they do not define Sweden's future."

Apparently it wasn't enough. A fifth of Swedish voters not only see SD leader Jimmie Akesson not as a threat to democracy, but rather as a lifeline. With an election result of more than 20 percent, you have made him a politician you can no longer avoid. That's no surprise, as early as 2018 it became apparent that the wall was crumbling.

In the country's heterogeneous party system, which regularly produces multi-party coalitions and minority governments, it is difficult to avoid such a large block of votes. Now Kristersson took over the office of Prime Minister - tolerated by the Sweden Democrats.

And now it will be seen whether the SD can accept compromises or whether they would rather continue to be the shrill voice in parliament. The party has taken the first steps towards joint responsibility: Akesson also supports joining NATO, and since the Brexit chaos there has been no talk of leaving the EU, which the SD has been demanding for years.

Kristersson now has two tasks ahead of him. He has to get a grip on crime in big cities like Malmo and Stockholm and involve the SD, which is still difficult to calculate. The new prime minister is not starting from scratch.

The Social Democrats have already introduced a very restrictive immigration policy and strengthened the police force over the past eight years - without much use. Sweden's problems cannot simply be solved with more police and less migration. It remains to be seen whether Kristersson finds the right concepts and whether the SD can deal with the complexity of government politics.

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