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POLITICS

Social Democrats unharmed by IT scandal, polls suggest

The Sweden Democrats are losing support with just over a year to go to Sweden's next general election, while the ruling Social Democrats may be gaining ground, according to new polls.

Published: 10 August 2017 07:25 CEST
Updated: 10 August 2017 09:48 CEST
Social Democrats unharmed by IT scandal, polls suggest
Stefan Löfven, centre, with ministers Peter Hultqvist and Annika Strandhäll. Photo: Erik Simander/TT

The Sweden Democrat party, which is known for its anti-immigration platform, drops by 3.5 percentage points in the latest election poll by Demoskop on behalf of the Expressen tabloid.

That puts support for the party at 16.6 percent, which means it also loses its place as the second-biggest party in the polls to the centre-right Moderates, whose support grows to 17.2 percent.

However, another poll also released on Thursday still has the Sweden Democrats as the second-largest party, with both it and the Moderates seeing a slight drop (more information below).

The Social Democrats, the main party in the centre-left government coalition with the Greens, meanwhile sees its support grow from 27 percent in the latest Demoskop poll to 28.4 percent.

That is despite a recent government crisis sparked by a major data leak at the Swedish Transport Agency when key information was made available to IT workers in other countries who had not gone through the usual security clearance checks. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was forced to let two government ministers go in response to the threat of an opposition-led no-confidence vote.

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Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

The crisis is not over yet as the opposition still threatens to call a vote of no confidence after the summer recess. However, the Demoskop poll was carried out after the peak of the crisis, which appears to indicate that the Social Democrats have so far survived the fallout unscathed in the eyes of voters.

The other smaller parties all show a slight increase, with the Centre Party now at 12.9 percent, the Greens at 4.4 percent, the Liberals at 6.4 percent and the Christian Democrats at 4.0 percent.

Pollsters quizzed 1,250 randomly selected voters about their party preference between August 1st and 8th. The Sweden Democrats' drop is the only change that is outside the margin of error.

Another survey by Novus on behalf of public broadcaster SVT, interviewing 2,000 people between July 31st and August 6th, still has the Sweden Democrats as the second-largest party with 18.7 percent support (down 1.3 percentage points), ahead of the Moderates at 15.2 percent (down 0.7 percentage points).

The Novus poll also suggests strengthened support for the Social Democrats at 29.3 percent (up 2.0 percentage points). All changes since their previous poll at the end of May are within the margin of error.

The Green Party is below 4 percent in both the Novus and the Demoskop poll, which means it would not get any seats in parliament if an election were held today.

POLITICS

Full steam ahead for Swedish economy in new three-part budget bill

Sweden has won the fight against inflation and expects GDP to grow next year, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson proudly proclaimed as she presented the government's budget bill for 2025.

Published: 19 September 2024 08:33 CEST
Full steam ahead for Swedish economy in new three-part budget bill

“Going forward, the task will be to ensure that high inflation does not return, and at the same time to implement reforms and investments that build a more prosperous, safer and more secure Sweden for generations to come,” said Svantesson in a statement on Thursday morning.

The government predicts that Swedish GDP will grow 2.5 percent next year followed by 3.2 percent 2026.

Unemployment, however, is expected to remain unchanged at 8.3 percent in 2025, only beginning to drop in 2026 (7.9 percent, according to the government’s predictions, followed by 7.6 percent in 2027).

Svantesson told a press conference that a strong focus on economic growth would create jobs.

The 2025 budget, worked out in collaboration between the right-wing government coalition and far-right Sweden Democrats, is far more expansionary than the restrained budget Svantesson presented last year when Sweden was still fighting high inflation: 60 billion kronor towards new reforms rather than 39 billion kronor for 2024. Almost half, 27 billion kronor, will go towards funding lower taxes.

ANALYSIS:

Svantesson highlighted three areas in which new reforms are prioritised:

  • Strengthening household purchasing power after several years of the high cost of living putting a strain on household budgets, with reforms set to push the tax burden to its lowest level since 1980, according to the government.
  • Reinstating the “work first” principle, meaning that people should work rather than live on benefits. Some of the measures include language training for parents born abroad and increasing the number of places in vocational adult education.
  • Increasing growth, focusing on investments in research, infrastructure and electricity supply.

In the debate in parliament on Thursday, the centre-left opposition is expected to criticise the government for lowering taxes for high earners and not investing enough in welfare. 

Investments in healthcare, social care and education are significantly reduced in this budget compared to last year: down from 16 billion kronor to 7.5 billion kronor. 

Meanwhile, the hike of the employment tax credit (jobbskatteavdraget) – a tax reduction given to people who pay tax on their job income – is expected to lead to a 3,671 kronor tax cut for people on the median salary of 462,000 kronor per year.

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