Swedish PM Magdalena Andersson resigns, right-wing bloc wins elections

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Sweden Democrats have seen a surge in backing and support in the polls on Sunday in the Swedish general elections, as chances increase that the national-conservative populist group will be overpowering the current minority government which has been in power. 

Current Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has accepted defeat in the weekend's elections, announcing plans to resign on September 15, arguing that "The preliminary result is clear enough to draw a conclusion" as she made the announcement in a news conference on Wednesday. 

Referring to the election results, the right and populist right was leading the center-left, left and greens about 49% to 48% as of Wednesday evening. 

"The four right-wing parties appear to have received just under 50 percent of the votes in the election, and in the Riksdag, they have gained one or two mandates. A thin majority, but it is a majority," Andersson said.

"I will therefore tomorrow ask the speaker to be relieved of my post," she said, adding that "the responsibility for the continued process will now pass to the parliament speaker and the Riksdag."

The final results of the elections will be announced on the weekend at most. It seems, till now, that the right-wing Sweden Democrats, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals will be fine to claim 176 seats in Stockholm's parliament, which is 349 seats. The Social Democrats maintain 100 seats thus far. 

Sweden Democrats' political isolation undone

The last time Sweden elected a Social Democrat prime minister was in October 2014, after which Andersson took over in November 2021. 

The rise of the right in Sweden is becoming increasingly brazen and visible in its social and political fabric, from the country's gradual accession to NATO, to the rise in popularity of right-wing parties: notably the Sweden Democrats which have been betting on unseating the Social Democrats current in Stockholm in Sunday's general election. 

Crime in its many forms has been subjects of contention in the race between the two rival parties, especially with the anti-immigration and nationalist Sweden Democrats having been for long treated as pariahs - however, with time, they were welcomed into the right-wing bloc. The Sweden Democrat's political isolation has now quickly become undone. 

The party sprung from a neo-Nazi ideology in the 1980s, entering parliament in 2010 with only a meager 5.7% of votes. 

Since 2014, Stockholm has been governed by the Social Democrats, which have been directing the winds of Swedish politics since the 1930s. 

The rise in right-wing popularity does not come as a surprise, especially since Sweden looks to join NATO, an intercontinental violent, reactionary force of imperialism. Sweden, for two centuries, had been militarily non-aligned until this year.