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Snap election or new PM? Decision day for Sweden’s Stefan Löfven

After a weekend of intense cross-party talks, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven must today announce whether he will call snap elections or resign as PM.

Published: 28 June 2021 09:02 CEST
Snap election or new PM? Decision day for Sweden's Stefan Löfven
Snap elections or resignation? Stefan Löfven has a tough decision after becoming the first Swedish PM to lose a no-confidence vote. Photo: Anders Wiklund / TT

The Social Democrat leader — a master of consensus to some, a dull and visionless party man to others — has had seven days since the confidence vote in which to attempt to secure a parliamentary majority in his favour. Now, his options are very limited. 

The 63-year-old Löfven, a former welder and union leader, guided the Swedish left back to power in 2014, and then hung on by moving his party closer to the centre right after the 2018 elections.

He finally fell out with the Left Party propping up his government, becoming the first Swedish government leader to be defeated by a no-confidence vote.

The motion of no confidence was filed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, after the Left Party said it was planning such a motion itself in protest against a plan to ease rent controls. However, the Left Party did not have enough MPs to put forward the motion alone and refused to co-sign it with the far-right party, prompting the Sweden Democrats to file it instead.

On the left, the proposal for “market rents”, that would potentially allow landlords to freely set rents for new apartments, is seen as being at odds with the Swedish social model and a threat to tenants’ rights.

The conservative Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats, who support market rents but are against Löfven’s government, were quick to back the motion, which was passed by 181 MPs in the 349-seat parliament. Last-ditch efforts to appease the Left Party, which holds 27 seats, failed.

Critics, including the leader of the Centre Party Annie Lööf, have described the constellation as an “unholy alliance” of parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

After 11 unsuccessful no-confidence votes in modern Swedish political history, Löfven, who has previously distinguished himself by his ability to survive political crises, thus ended up setting an unwanted precedent.

Any snap poll would be held in addition to the general election scheduled for September 2022, which would result in two ballots in just over a year. If Löfven opts for a snap election it would be the first in the country since 1958.

According to an Ipsos opinion poll published Tuesday, the right and far-right would come out on top in a general election, with a very slim parliamentary majority.

If Löfven chooses instead to resign, it will be up to parliamentary speaker Andreas Norlen to open negotiations to find a new prime minister. He would have to consult each party before proposing a new PM, to ensure that the new government would command a majority, and this could see Löfven return to the top job, or could open the way for Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson to assume
the office, or another candidate who can build a majority.

If the process is unsuccessful, then it would be back to a general election.

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POLITICS

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

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'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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