Sweden election results thread (Sept 14, 2014)

[Gustaf]

No Pharrell Williams effect apparently.

It would be pretty embarrassing if a foreign singer with no particular political background or insight could sway a notable portion of the Swedish electorate tbh

Well he wasn't the only one, ABBA Benny spent a fortune on the party as well.

It would be particularly embarrassing if using an explicitly anti-feminist artist benefited a feminist party.

This thread is getting way too sage for its own good.

What do you expect? Its a Sweden thread without any Swedes to give us some proper analysis (most of them are probably drowning their sorrows, Gustaf might actually be celebrating). Idle speculation, sagery and rhetorical grand standing is bound to fill the void.

Why would I be celebrating?

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An interesting thing to note is that the Swedish electorate has been getting increasingly ideologically polarized over time. Also, I think SD is far from unlikely to topple the government. It will be an interesting 4 years ahead now.

[Gustaf]

Where is this from?

I just made it.

Yeah I see some problems with this one.

Fi's economic policies are very close to V, they should be much closer each other on the left-right scale than you have put them. FP should be the most EU positive out of all parties (they're federalist) and C should be the most EU-skeptical out of the Alliance parties.

The June List doesn't actually want to leave the European Union, so they are by no means more EU skeptical than V, they're also founded by former Social Democrats, so they should neither be the furthest right on this scale. Putting SD to the right of M is also... very questionable.

Why is the June List even on this btw? They're as good as non-existent these days. They only got eight votes in total this election.

I was going to say the chart made no sense but you beat me to it.

[Gustaf]

This thread is getting way too sage for its own good.

What do you expect? Its a Sweden thread without any Swedes to give us some proper analysis (most of them are probably drowning their sorrows, Gustaf might actually be celebrating). Idle speculation, sagery and rhetorical grand standing is bound to fill the void.

Why would I be celebrating?

The "leftists" managing to throw away what looked like a certain victory, likely paving the way for a swift return of the centre-right in a couple of years. For an Alliance supporter this result is as good as it could realistically get.

Anyway, that post was obviously not 100% serious.

So according to val.se, the official results have just finished to be counted a couple minutes ago.

Turnout is at 85.80% (+1.23), the highest figure since 1994. The only good thing to come out of this election, I guess.

And 1,21% higher than the Scottish referendum - a testimony to the failure of Scotland's Choice that they couldn't get a higher turnout for their nation's choice of a lifetime than a regular Scandinavian parliamentary election.

The British and Americans could learn a thing or two from the Swedes. Hold an election, get a result that's 99,9% accurate in 4 hours and then finish the "fine counting" in 4,5 days. That's the way to do it.

I was expecting the left to mess things up. I am a little entertained by the chaos so I'm happy I got something out of a pretty uninspired campaign. But like most Alliance supporters I'm a bit disappointed that what was overall a pretty good government got voted out, mostly because people shifted to the losers in SD.

[Gustaf]

Yeah, I still call nonsense on this. Putting F! right next to S on fiscal issues when they reject the notion of a budget or putting JL at the far right point when they were basically slightly centre-right are two glaring examples.

[Gustaf]

How do you mean? The obvious answer is that Skåne and Halland are pretty rich areas, just like Stockholm, and thus very predictably vote more right-wing. Not sure if you want an explanation of why they are richer. Skåne has a lot of immigrants which may contribute to SD support.

(But I'll grant that I find it a bit mysterious that Skåne hates foreigners so much. Stockholm also has a lot of immigrants but very low SD support)

[Gustaf]

Press conference today, Löfven announces that he's forming a government with MP but not much in the way of new information. Beyond his statement of basically selling out anything that could be called left and rule like a right-winger

[Gustaf]

Amusingly, the new speaker is the guy who said his party had SD's immigration policy way before they did, the deputy speaker is the migration minister who said some weird stuff about blonde and blue eyed people and the 2nd deputy is, well, Björn Söder. Not the best trio to underscore Sweden's tolerance and openness.

Also, the Greens are giving up their opposition to armed forces and pensions. The SAP is dropping their opposition to labour migration. I'm pretty happy so far.

[Gustaf]

Also, the Greens are giving up their opposition to armed forces and pensions. The SAP is dropping their opposition to labour migration. I'm pretty happy so far.

The Greens are opposed to pensions?

It was asked earlier and answered in reply 277.

Sorry, didn't realise we'd started a new page.

What are the main ambitions/policies of the new government?

To stay in power, i.e. not have any ambitions or policies.

Well, in theory they want to improve education and employment I think. They're making high school compulsory for some unfathomable reason. At least I hope they're not sticking to the insane idea they proposed a year back of cutting off high school dropouts from all welfare, leaving them to starve to death on the sidewalk.

When it comes to employment it's less clear but hopefully we'll get a an industry chancellor. I say hopefully because it's a badass name.

[Gustaf]

Also, the Greens are giving up their opposition to armed forces and pensions. The SAP is dropping their opposition to labour migration. I'm pretty happy so far.

The Greens are opposed to pensions?

It was asked earlier and answered in reply 277.

Sorry, didn't realise we'd started a new page.

What are the main ambitions/policies of the new government?

To stay in power, i.e. not have any ambitions or policies.

Well, in theory they want to improve education and employment I think. They're making high school compulsory for some unfathomable reason. At least I hope they're not sticking to the insane idea they proposed a year back of cutting off high school dropouts from all welfare, leaving them to starve to death on the sidewalk.

When it comes to employment it's less clear but hopefully we'll get a an industry chancellor. I say hopefully because it's a badass name.

Unfathomable? I think it's unfathomable to just give up on students and treat it as a fact that some students will always be tired and disinterested in schoolwork and can't be helped by competent teachers. Unemployment amongst those without high school degrees is several times higher than the rest of the population so on the labour market today having a high school degree is a de facto requirement to get a job. 15 year olds are also not mature enough to make such a major decision in regards to their future, god knows I have several friends stuck in unemployment today who say their biggest regret is having been so stupid by dropping out of school.

What about vocational training and apprenticeships? High school (even the semi-practical programs) is not for everyone.

Well the previous government removed the requirement that all high school programs should make students qualified to apply for college studies and instituted some 2-year vocational programs, however all of those have fallen far below expectations with fewer and fewer people applying to them for every year since they were created. It's been tried but it failed.

I am not saying that we shouldn't address high school drop-outs. I am saying that forcing them to go to school is probably not the solution. I think we should rather invest in teaching our kids stuff earlier on.

I taught failing pupils who were 14-15 and some of them couldn't read or do basic arithmetic. Saying they have to attend high school a year later isn't going to help anyone.

[Gustaf]

The usual flurry of cabinet member scandals hit us. I'm increasingly suspecting that we'll see the government fall, new elections and then some type of new constellation.