A new sort of Swedish model appeals to the right, not the left
Sep 16th 2010
OUTSIDE Scandinavia, Sweden is generally known for two things: social democracy, and the books of Stieg Larsson. That may change, for if the polls in the run-up to the election on September 19th are correct, the first may end up looking like one of the corpses so often found in the second.The election is expected to return the centre-right government voted in four years ago. Indeed, the main centre-right party, the Moderates, could oust the Social Democrats as Sweden’s biggest single party—for the first time since the 1930s. The centre-right’s success has not only undermined the view, widely held outside Sweden, that the place is a social-democratic paradise; it has also chipped away at a social model that foreigners find enviable but Swedes find expensive.
This week’s polls point to a clear lead for the four-party centre-right alliance, led by the Moderates’ leader (and incumbent prime minister), Fredrik Reinfeldt. The Social Democrat vote could even fall below 30%. Mr Reinfeldt may still have problems forming a new government, thanks to the probable emergence in parliament of the far-right Sweden Democrats (see article). But if he succeeds, this will be the first time since the war that a centre-right government has been re-elected after serving a full term.
