Swedish election (Sept 19): conservatives have edge, far-right party may hold balance of power

[pampango]

Sweden is heading toward a close contest in Sept. 19 elections with recent polls giving the edge to the centre-right government, but some also showing a far-right party holding the balance of power. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's four-party "Alliance" has held a lead of between 3.4 and 7.6 percentage points over the Social Democrat-led opposition in recent opinion polls after having trailed badly through much of its four years in power. While the polls tend to show Reinfeldt's coalition in the lead, five out of the last 10 polls forecast he will not have a majority if the far-right anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats win their first parliament seats.

Sweden stands out in Europe thanks mainly to robust public finances -- it expects to have a budget surplus in 2012 after suffering its worst recession since World War Two in 2009.

Many polls also show the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party pushing a vocal anti-immigrant agenda, narrowly clearing the 4-percent hurdle to win seats in parliament, setting the stage for minority rule by one of the two blocs. If the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats win seats in parliament, how will the established parties carry out their plan not to cooperate with the far right, yet get policy approved in parliament?

If re-elected in September, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's government is expected to cut income taxes again while keeping a lid on welfare spending in areas such as unemployment and healthcare benefits. Public spending as a share of gross domestic product remains among the highest of Organisation for Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, although it has fallen steadily in recent years. The opposition, on the other hand, has promised more spending on areas such as healthcare and education, financed by the unwinding of income tax cuts. It has already said it would revive a wealth tax.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSRISKSE20100901

Sweden's far-right furious: 'Democracy in danger'; Swedish media refused to air anti-immigration ad campaign.

The small far-right Sweden Democrats party said Monday a second media outlet had refused to air its anti-immigration ad campaign, insisting it was being censored and Swedish democracy was in danger.

The television advert shows a race between an elderly woman and several women in burqas pushing prams with a slogan promising to safeguard pension funding at the expense of immigration.

The radio version meanwhile featured the same ad's slogan, a female voice telling voters that "on September 19, you can choose between hitting the breaks on immigration instead of hitting the breaks on pensions. Vote for the Sweden Democrats."

SBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but on Friday TV4 told AFP it had decided not to broadcast the advert because it considered it breached Swedish laws prohibiting messages containing hate grounded on race and religion.

http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/5975-swedens-far-right-furious-democracy-in-danger