Sweden faces snap election after budget fails

Sweden's far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) have toppled the country's minority government after just three months in office, plunging the country into political crisis and triggering a snap election in March.

Social Democrat prime minister Stefan Löfven brought down his coalition with the Greens after the opposition SD, the third-largest party in the Riksdag parliament, refused either to back his minority administration's budget or abstain from the vote.

Instead the SD backed the budget of the opposition four-party “Alliance”, sinking the government’s financial plan by 182 votes to 153.

With an election fixed for March 22nd, Sweden’s first snap election in half a century, Mr Löfven attacked the four-party opposition “Alliance” for handing the balance of power to the SD.

“The [Alliance] made clear during the campaign . . . that they would not let the Sweden Democrats get that kind of influence,” he said. “Now they’ve given them that kind of influence, and that is exactly why we are calling this extra election.”

The opposition “Alliance”, ousted from power last September, dismissed Mr Löfven’s claims and blamed him for not being conciliatory enough on budget policy.

Last September's election saw a political shift to the centre-left, ousting the centre-right coalition headed by prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. However the shift left was not enough for a centre-left majority coalition, particularly after Mr Löfven decided not to bring into office the Left Party.

The resulting standoff handed a parliamentary kingmaker role to the populist SD, which doubled its vote to 13 per cent. Aware that all eyes are on the party, SD leaders indicated that they would try to build on September’s electoral success by ramping up its rhetoric and turning the poll into a referendum on immigration. After the snap election was called, party leaders vowed to topple all future governments, centre-left or centre-right, that fail to limit immigration.

"Sweden has most extreme immigration policy in Europe and the government wanted to make it more extreme," said acting SD leader Mattias Karlsson, accusing Mr Löfven of toppling his own government by refusing to agree budget changes. "Responsibility for this situation lies solely with the prime minister."

International data shows Sweden was last year the biggest per-capita recipient of asylum seekers and refugees. To date, all mainstream parties have resisted SD demands to debate Sweden’s migration policy, though right-wing newspapers have begun to throw their weight behind the discussion.

Opinion polls suggest an ongoing stalemate between Sweden’s centre-left and centre-right camps, with neither side ready to cross the political divide to break the influence of the SD.

"This is a game-changer because no other party can take the Sweden Democrats for granted anymore," said Dr Andre Kokkonen, political scientist at the University of Göteborg.