Rightwing surge across Scandinavia

Well, at least according to the polls.

Probably due to the case about the Mohammed drawings, rightwing parties now have majorities in all three Scandinavian countries according to a new poll. The majorities range from a razor-thin 50.1% in Norway over 53.7% in Denmark to 55.5% in Sweden. As Denmark and Norway both held elections last year, the results for both of these countries dont mean much. Those for Sweden look promising, though - there are national elections up later this year. Some background while Im at it:

In the case of Denmark, it is mainly a question of the Danish People´s Party having eaten another 4%-points of former Social Democrats. This is an ongoing process that has seen the DPP jump from 7.4% in 1998 to a bit over 17% in the most recent poll. At times, they have even approached 20%.

In Sweden, it is also a question of the Social Democrats hemorrhaging voters due to socialist misgovernment - the Social Democrats have had to buy the support of the communists (Vänsterpartiet) and environuts (Miljöpartiet). Since semi-soviet repression ranging from voter manipulation to the firing of potential candidates so far has kept a Swedish version of the immigration-sceptic Danish People´s Party emerging, angry SD voters are instead heading for more mainstream rightwing parties.

Like in Sweden, Norway also has a leftwing government, but in contrast to Sweden the communists and environuts are actually in the government. Compared to the election last year, the changes are mostly in that the DPPs Norwegian sister party, Fremskrittspartiet, is eating into the support base of the other rightwing parties. Otherwise, the rightwing majority is the same as at the election.

You might ask yourself why the Norwegian rightwing can have a majority at the election, but still a leftwing government. The answer is that Norway, much like the US, has an election system that gives more influence to the thinly settled regions. Thus the left wing with 48% of the votes got 87 MPs, while the right wing with 48.8% only got 82.

Henrik