The far right: on the march
Sweden’s election
A woman rides her bike next to an election poster of Ebba Busch Thor, leader of the Christian Democrats Party in Stockholm. The general election in Sweden takes place on Sunday. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
Recent elections across Europe have seen traditional political patterns undergo dramatic changes, if not in exactly the same way in each country.
While in France the beneficiary was the new centrist formation led by Emmanuel Macron, and the biggest loser the once powerful socialists, in Germany and Italy the most noteworthy shift has been to the far right, with the breakthrough of Alternative für Deutschland last year and the success of Matteo Salvini’s Lega in March. In Austria, meanwhile, the far-right has entered coalition with the centre-right after last year’s election, while in Hungary Fidesz, the proudly illiberal national-conservative party of Viktor Orbán, won a landslide victory in April.