A far-right party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement won a surge in support in Sweden's general elections Sunday, partial results show, as anti-migrant sentiment rises in the once-open Scandanavian country. With votes in more than half of around 6,000 districts now counted, the far-right Sweden Democrats have won 17.9% of the vote, up from 12.9% in the previous 2014 elections, Expressen TV reports.
I'll take a different view. Based on my tracking, polling had the Sweden Democrats at 19% to 22%. I'd argue they under-performed their polling, which admittedly surprises me. I would have assumed they would have over-performed their polling as folks might not feel like stating they planned to vote for Sweden Democrats due to their neo-Nazi roots. So yes, there is a "surge" based on the 2014 elections, but Sweden Democrats should be disappointed about their under-performance to the polling.
What is interesting for Sweden politics is that the two major coalitions are in a dead heat. Per BBC:
The governing centre-left coalition is marginally ahead of its centre-right Alliance rivals, with around 40% each. Neither will win a majority, and both have pledged not to govern with the SD.
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