The Swedish Election - Page 2 - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

Arachnodisiac · #16 (**permalink**) 09-20-2006

Hejsan.

The big difference being that there was a huge scandal in Canada and that the conservative party was attractive to a religious segment on moral issues.

As far as I know, the reasons in Sweden were mostly economic rather than catering to the religions right on issues such as gay marriage, traditional families and so forth.

Dormouse · #17 (**permalink**) 09-20-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Hejsan.

The big difference being that there was a huge scandal in Canada and that the conservative party was attractive to a religious segment on moral issues.

As far as I know, the reasons in Sweden were mostly economic rather than catering to the religions right on issues such as gay marriage, traditional families and so forth.

$50 million is hardly a "big scandal" by any political standard. And the reports I've read show that the dynamic was the same. Small scandals by the ruling party in power too long.

And the 'conservatives' win only by promising not to be conservative.

Wallaroo · #18 (**permalink**) 09-20-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGG

1. Make it easier to hire people through lower employer's taxes, especially when it comes to younger people.

2. Lower the compensation for unemployed people, so they will have a greater economic incentive to take a job offered to them.

3. Free the employers from the duty to pay some of their employees' sickness benefits. Evidence shows that only a tiny part of all the employees who have to stay home from work do this due to injuries or sickness caused by the workplace, still this was the cause for the Social Democrats to enact this rule a couple of years ago. It has put an unnecessary burden on employers, making them more hesitant to employ people.

4. Abolish the real estate tax. It is weird to have to pay taxes on something when you do not earn any money on it. It is a tax on living and it has put a huge burden on many elderly people who has worked all their lives to be able to buy a house.

5. Lower the income taxes for everybody, primarily for those who earn the least.

6. Enact statutes that allow teachers to do more to uphold order in the class room, for example allowing them to take a mobile phone away from a pupil.

7. Make sure pupils in schools get grades from their 6th year in school, not from the 8th year as is the case now. (Personally, I see no reason why they could not get grades from the first year in school.)

8. Enact statutes that guarantee that everyone who needs medical care will get this within a maximum time limit. This worked the last time the centre-right alliance was in power 1991-94.

9. Be tougher on crime, for instance through new statutory laws telling the courts to use the whole range of the possible sentences for different crimes and not just the lower ranges as is commonly the case now.

10. Respect the referendums on car tolls in Stockholm, not only the referendum held in the City of Stockholm itself, but also those in the suburbian towns around Stockholm. The Social Democrats did not want any other referendums than that in the City of Stockholm to be respected, because this would allow them to keep the tolls.

Thanks! It sounds a lot like things the danish government has already done in the last 4 years.

So how about things like immigration policy? Member of NATO? Euro currency?

Arachnodisiac · #19 (**permalink**) 09-20-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad_Michael

$50 million is hardly a "big scandal" by any political standard.

But it's not political standards that fell this government - it was the public's reaction and the media's pursuit of the story that brought the beast down.

If the sponsorship scandal had not occured - Harper would not be in power right now.

And if by not conservative, you mean a moderate conservative, then I' have to agree with you.

DGG · #20 (**permalink**) 09-21-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wallaroo

Thanks! It sounds a lot like things the danish government has already done in the last 4 years.

So how about things like immigration policy? Member of NATO? Euro currency?

Membership of NATO is currently a non-issue in Swedish politics. I very much doubt it will be an issue in the close future.

There may be some changes in immigration policy. The party previously most liberal when it comes to letting people in and letting them stay have adjusted their policies and have, for instance, demanded that you should be able to pass a test in Swedish before becoming a citizen. It is possible that Sweden will change its immigration laws to conform more to those of others in the European Union, thus limiting the means to legitimately entering the country.

The Euro currency is not an issue, since the people turned it down in a referendum a couple of years ago. Sweden was actually forced to change currencies to the Euro, but did not. I have written about this before in another thread in this forum.

DGG · #21 (**permalink**) 09-21-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad_Michael

I have read several analysis of the Swedish election that suggests something very similar to the Canadian election last year.

Similarities: Canada and Sweden are among the best run governments in the Western world over the last 20 years or so (lowest deficits, lowest debts, highest growth, etc). Canada and Sweden have both been ruled by a 'left-of-centre' party for most of those years. Both ruling parties encountered corruption scandals in the year previous to the election.

In both cases, 'conservative' (or centre-right if you prefer in the context) parties took over government - primarily by promising to generally maintain the status quo - promising only to 'fix' some broken parts or engage in some modest reforms.

What corruption scandal of the Swedish ruling party did the analysis mention?

The part about generally maintaining status quo is completely true. The conservative party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt has turned the party to the centre of the political scale. I know some people who think the party has become to leftish, but then again, some reforms in the right direction ("right" in both meanings of the word) are better than staying out of power.

It can be compared to Labour in the UK after the successful years of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, Labour had to turn far right in order to be able to regain power, even though people were tired of the Conservatives. This is the thing about democracies, when you want change, you often have to start close to status quo and slowly work your way towards your goals.

DGG · #22 (**permalink**) 10-04-2006

This is the final result of the Swedish election (counting the votes was done a while ago, I just haven't gone around to paste anything here):

...........................................2006... ..................2002
...........................................Votes.. .%...Seats....Votes...%...Seats
Moderata Samlingspartiet......1456014..26.23...97...809041. 15.26....55
(Conservatives)
Centerpartiet.......................437389....7.88 ...29...328428...6.19....22
(Centre/Agrarian)
Folkpartiet liberalerna............418395....7.54...28...71031 2..13.39...48
(People's Party, European Liberals)
Kristdemokraterna................365998....6.59... .24...485235...9.15...33
(Christian Democrats)
Socialdemokraterna............1942625...34.99..130 ..2113560.39.85..144
(Social Democrats)
Vänsterpartiet....................324722.....5.85. ..22....444854...8.39...30
(Left, former Communists)
Miljöpartiet de gröna............291121.....5.24...19....246392... 4.65...17
(Green Party)
Övriga partier.....................315014.....5.67.....0. ...165390...3.12....0
(Others)

You need 4 % to gain seats in Parliament. The four parties on the top of this list has formed a coalition and will present the new cabinet this Friday.

DGG · #23 (**permalink**) 10-06-2006

The new Swedish Cabinet was presented today.

Prime Minister is the Conservative party leader Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Among the other members of the Cabinet the Foreign Secretary may be noted, it is the former Conservative Prime Minister (1991-1994) and former High Representative of the EU to the Balkans Mr. Carl Bildt.

Íñigo · #24 (**permalink**) 10-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad_Michael

I have read several analysis of the Swedish election that suggests something very similar to the Canadian election last year.

Similarities: Canada and Sweden are among the best run governments in the Western world over the last 20 years or so (lowest deficits, lowest debts, highest growth, etc). Canada and Sweden have both been ruled by a 'left-of-centre' party for most of those years. Both ruling parties encountered corruption scandals in the year previous to the election.

In both cases, 'conservative' (or centre-right if you prefer in the context) parties took over government - primarily by promising to generally maintain the status quo - promising only to 'fix' some broken parts or engage in some modest reforms.

I find it interesting what you say. Then could you tell us how are things going there after all? Is the government doing what they promised to do? It'd be interesting how the things went in canada now that the same thing might happen in Sweden, even though we're talking about very difrent countries I think...in a very different international context...
(loved sweden when I was there by the way...too much calmness though

DGG · #25 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Íñigo

...loved sweden when I was there by the way...too much calmness though

Where in Sweden were you? In what way was it "too much calmness"?

Just curious.

Íñigo · #26 (**permalink**) 10-22-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGG

Where in Sweden were you? In what way was it "too much calmness"?

Just curious.

I was there as an exchange student in Jönköping (not sure if I wrote it properly, sorry just in case)...when I said it was too calmy I meant that it was a city big enough to have much more nightlife and stuff...I don't know, when the swedish came to our houses they found my city much more alive...even though mine is not really a very party-city (its good pint is that it's full of "erasmus"). They actually couldn't believe it when we went to madrid a friday and there was more people at 4 am than at 4 pm....I dont know just different cultures i guess....anyway I am the kind of people who'd prefer to live in Sweden and then go down to Spain for a week once in a while you know...

DGG · #27 (**permalink**) 10-23-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Íñigo

I was there as an exchange student in Jönköping (not sure if I wrote it properly, sorry just in case)...when I said it was too calmy I meant that it was a city big enough to have much more nightlife and stuff...I don't know, when the swedish came to our houses they found my city much more alive...even though mine is not really a very party-city (its good pint is that it's full of "erasmus"). They actually couldn't believe it when we went to madrid a friday and there was more people at 4 am than at 4 pm....I dont know just different cultures i guess....anyway I am the kind of people who'd prefer to live in Sweden and then go down to Spain for a week once in a while you know...

Jönköping (which, indeed, you spelled correctly) is known across Sweden for its piousness and devotness to Christian ideas. It is the stronghold of the Swedish Christian Democratic party and its nickname is "Little Jerusalem". It is thus not the greatest town to measure the average Swede's eagerness to party and stay out late at night.

However, I do think what you describe reflects the differences between the Swedish and Spanish cultures to some extent. All across Sweden, there would be more people on the town at 4 p.m. than 4 a.m., even though this varies from one town to the other. Swedes generally don't stay up so late as people in more southern parts of Europe do.

I'm glad you like Sweden. I liked Spain when I was there on vacation.

Summerian · #28 (**permalink**) 11-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGG

The preliminary result of the Swedish Parliament election on Sunday the 17th show a victory for the Conservatives, who can form a coalition with the three other centre-right parties of the Parliament. This will be the first Cabinet in Sweden for 25 years that has direct support of a majority of the Parliament. For the first time in twelve years, the centre-right takes over the government in Sweden.

Stay tuned for more facts.

This is just wrong.

There are four parties in the right wing coalition. They, together, now have a majority of the votes. That is - not one party has +50%. The left is just a strange bunch. When they had the majority, the green party and the left party (former communists) supported the socialdemocrates but did not get to be in the govement(!?) The greens and the left just got had, tricked by Göran P.

There is just one thing I want to say about my new goverment: How are they suppose to create all these new jobs when they in the same breath says that it is up to the market to create jobs, not politicians?

And to the leftist politicians that the Swedish people booted out - have fun trying to get a real job!

Falke27 · #29 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGG

The preliminary result of the Swedish Parliament election on Sunday the 17th show a victory for the Conservatives, who can form a coalition with the three other centre-right parties of the Parliament. This will be the first Cabinet in Sweden for 25 years that has direct support of a majority of the Parliament. For the first time in twelve years, the centre-right takes over the government in Sweden.

Stay tuned for more facts.

More interessing is the success of the swedish right-wing parties. Tres Krona

Wallaroo · #30 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Íñigo

I was there as an exchange student in Jönköping (not sure if I wrote it properly, sorry just in case)...when I said it was too calmy I meant that it was a city big enough to have much more nightlife and stuff...I don't know, when the swedish came to our houses they found my city much more alive...even though mine is not really a very party-city (its good pint is that it's full of "erasmus"). They actually couldn't believe it when we went to madrid a friday and there was more people at 4 am than at 4 pm....I dont know just different cultures i guess

There are simple explanations for these differences between Sweden and Spain. The cold climate and lack of diversity in Sweden affects people to become dull and not wanna go out as much as you do in the south. Furthermore, the people of Sweden are even more supressed by a ultra-socialistic super state than we are in Denmark, with lots of taxes and restrictions on most things.

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