The Big Bad Swedish Politics & News Thread

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rural voters who're leaving their traditional choice the Centre party in droves after that party made some very controversial (understatment) policy changes early in December

More details?

Basicly the new platform that the leadership presented took the party in a very Libretairian direction. The three most controversial new positions being:

1) Free-immigration, no regulations or restrictions on immigration at all.
2) No mandatory school, parents who don't want to send their children to school don't have to.
3) Making the federal income-tax flat.

 

Almost sounds like a joke...

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From what I know of Swedish politics, the Center Party used to be the most moderate element of the Alliance. It's sad to see them go completely insane, because they have a useful spot to occupy in the political landscape.

The nice thing about Scandinavia, is that there is always someone who place themselves at the centre. But centre parties do have a tendence to go insane this way thanks to part of their voter segment (urban proffesional) and their ideology (liberalism). So it's good to clean out once in a while when they turn too insane. Denmark could also use that the Social Liberals collapsed, someone other took their position instead.

Is that indicative or conditional? I've not been following Danish politics since the election, did something happen to Radikale Venstre?

Except forcing the goverment to the right on economic issues I haven't heard about them doing anything differently than they did in 2011. In the latest poll I've seen they still poll at 8,9% so they seem pretty stable. 

I'm guessing Ingemann is really professing his personal oppinion of Radikale, rather than the general Danish oppinion. Granted I wouldn't vote for them either, but they don't really seem to be out-of-mainstream compared to other European Green or centre-left leaning social liberals. (Who always seem to be very arrogant) 

They are not green, and I wouldn't call them centre-left anymore, economic they lies to the right of both Venstre and DPP right now. Of course it can change fast, ten years ago, they wanted to abolish all industry (somewhat hyperbole), establish citizen wage and rraise the property tax. Today they want to lower all wages, remove the high income tax, lower the company tax and raise property tax.

Why prop up a center-left administration when they could make Rasmussen PM (again)?

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Why prop up a center-left administration when they could make Rasmussen PM (again)?

Well for one thing they wouldn't be able to create a centre-right government with-out the Danish People's Party, and Radikale and DF don't get along that well...

Ah! Makes sense.

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Why prop up a center-left administration when they could make Rasmussen PM (again)?

Another would be to neutralise the only threat to the right-wing economics (and going off what Swedish Cheese said, they've been successful).

Again, surely the SDP'd be less of a threat in opposition.

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I am curious as to where the Sverigedeomkratene gets their votes from. Is it working class voters that used to vote for Socialdemokratarna? 

SD generally takes voters from all parties across the board, however the party which we're seeing the most movement to the Sweden Democrats is not the Social Democrats, but actually the Moderates. This could be seen as result of Reinfeldt's "New Moderates" and their decision to focus less on issues like defense, immigration and crime than previously, meaning that some of the old guard Moderates jump to SD because they don't feel that M is right wing enough. But M has largely been able to compensate for this by catering to the centrists who used to vote for SAP.

More UKIP than BNP or the FN?

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What are approvals of the leaders like? Preferred PM?

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The governing parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens... whose on-going congress just decided to include the phrase "we want to remove the commercially oriented actors from the market". Their membership isn't moving towards the centre as quickly as their leadership, which tends to show.

Does 'centre' now encompass profiteering in education?

The 'third way' is so ten years ago.