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Day of reckoning? Swedish parties anxiously await key poll results

Who are the winners and the losers in Sweden's biggest political opinion poll of the year?

Published: 1 June 2017 07:42 CEST

Day of reckoning? Swedish parties anxiously await key poll results

From left, Isabella Lövin of the Green Party, the Christian Democrats' Ebba Busch Thor, the Sweden Democrats' Jimmie Åkesson and the Moderates' Anna Kinberg Batra at a party leader debate. Photo: Maja

National number-crunching agency Statistics Sweden is set to present the results of the major political survey at 9.30am, detailing how voters would cast their ballot if an election were held today.

The poll, which quizzed 9,000 people in May, is released twice a year and is considered a key indicator of voters' sympathies.

It is expected to confirm a drop for the biggest centre-right opposition party, the Moderates, which has been polling poorly this year following its decision to open the door to cooperation with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, breaking a long-standing taboo in the Swedish Riksdag.

This week calls were heard within the party for leader Anna Kinberg Batra to be replaced before the 2018 election, although other senior members of the party threw their support behind her.

ANALYSIS: What does the crisis in the opposition mean for Sweden?

Some of the smaller parties are also expected to be keeping a close eye on the survey results.

According to another recent poll presented just days ago, support for the Green Party, which is the junior partner in the centre-left coalition government, had dropped to 3.6 percent, while the opposition's Christian Democrats ended up at 3.5 percent. If an election were held today, it would mean neither party would get the four percent required to be represented in parliament.

In that poll, Svensk väljaropinion by pollsters Sifo, the ruling Social Democrats became the biggest party at 27.9 percent, followed by the Sweden Democrats at 17.9 percent.

EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

What happened?

Several masked men burst into a Stockholm theatre on Wednesday night and set off smoke bombs during an anti-fascism event, according to police and participants.

Around 50 people were taking part in the event at the Moment theatre in Gubbängen, a southern suburb of the Swedish capital, organised by the Left Party and the Green Party.

“Three people were taken by ambulance to hospital,” the police said on its website, shortly after the attack.

According to Swedish media, one person was physically assaulted and two had paint sprayed in their faces.

“The Nazis attacked visitors using physical violence, with pepper spray, and vandalised the venue before throwing in some kind of smoke grenade which filled the foyer with smoke,” Expo wrote on its website.

The magazine’s head of education Klara Ljungberg was at the event in order to hold a lecture at the invitation of the two political parties.

What was the meeting about?

According to the Left Party’s press officer, the event was “a meeting about growing fascism”.

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar described the event to public broadcaster SVT as an “open event, for equality among individuals”.

As well as Ljungberg from Expo, panelists at the event included anti-fascist activist Mathias Wåg, who also writes for Swedish centre-left tabloid Aftonbladet.

“They were determined and went straight for me,” Wåg told Expo just after the attack. “I received a few blows but nothing that caused serious damage.”

“I was invited to be on a panel in order to discuss anti-fascism with representatives from the Left Party and the Green Party,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, but there’s obviously a risk when Expo and I are in the same place.”

What has the reaction been like?

All of Sweden’s parties across the political spectrum have denounced the attack, with Dadgostar describing it as a “threat to our democracy” when TT newswire interviewed her at the theatre a few hours after the attack occurred.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative Moderates, called the attack “abhorrent”.

The Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals are currently in government with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, while the Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party are in opposition.

“It is appalling news that a meeting hosted by the Left Party has been stormed,” Kristersson told TT. “I have reached out to Nooshi Dadgostar and expressed my deepest support. This type of abhorrent action has no place in our free and open society.”

“Right-wing extremists want to scare us into silence,” Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson wrote on X. “They will never be allowed to succeed.”

“The attack by right-wing extremists at a political meeting is a direct attack on our democracy and freedom of speech,” Green Party co-leader Daniel Helldén wrote on X. “My thoughts are with those who were affected this evening.”

Sweden Democrat party leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote in an email to TT that “political violence is terrible, in all its forms, and does not belong in Sweden.”

“All democratic forces must stand in complete solidarity against all kinds of politically motivated violence,” he continued.

His party has previously admitted to being founded by people from “fascist movement” New Swedish Movement, skinheads, and people with “various types of neo-Nazi contact”.

“It is an attack not only on the Left Party, Green Party and the Expo Foundation, but also on our entire democratic society,” Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, who referred to the attackers as “Nazis”, wrote on social media. “Those affected have all my support.”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch and Liberal leader Johan Pehrson both referred to the attackers as “anti-democratic forces”.

“It is never acceptable for a political meeting to be stormed by anti-democratic forces,” Busch wrote. “There is no place for this in our society.”

“Anti-democratic forces like this represent a serious threat to our democracy and must be met with society’s hardest iron fist,” Pehrson said.

What about the attackers? Has anyone been arrested?

Not yet. The police had not made any arrests at the time of writing on Thursday morning.

According to TT, police did not want to comment on who could be behind the attack.

It is currently being investigated as a violation of the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act, assault, causing danger to others and disturbing public order.

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