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Support cools for Sweden’s new coalition

Pollsters have found that Swedes are becoming less happy with the new Red-Green coalition government and more keen on the country's centre-right parties, with the gap between the two blocs decreasing.

Published: 13 November 2014 12:24 CET
Updated: 13 November 2014 14:24 CET

Support cools for Sweden's new coalition

Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven leads the current government. Photo: TT

Polling firm Novus revealed on Thursday that the centre-right Moderate party – which led the previous centre-right coalition – is now 2.5 percentage points more popular than it was in September's elections.

The governing Social Democrats have meanwhile seen a drop of 2.4 percentage points since the election. The study suggests that 28.6 percent of voters would chose them today.

The change means that the gap between the two main politicial blocs in Sweden has shrunk to less than one percentage point.

The Red-Greens have 42.8 percent support compared to 42.1 percent for the four Alliance parties in opposition.

If the opinion poll results reflected a fresh election, the nationalist Sweden Democrats would retain their kingmaker role as the country's third largest party.

The party's support saw a slight drop from 12.9 percent in the elections to 12.3 percent in September, according to the poll.

The remaining parties saw little to no change in support, with the exception of the Centre Party – which saw a 1.4 percentage point growth to 7.1 percent and the Feminist Initiative which has lost supporters since the general election.

Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven took questions from other party leaders in parliament on Thursday afternoon.

He was quizzed about the possible closure of Stockholm's Bromma airport and said that a final decision had not been taken.

Reacting to a question about one local authority – Kronobergs – which has been debating whether or not doctors should have the right to refuse abortions on moral grounds, he said:

"I see troubles if you start moving discussions in this direction".

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'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast.

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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