By Martha Moss - 20th September 2010
Of course we are very worried - we don't know what will happen
Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson
Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson has said the country is "very afraid" about the breakthrough of the far-right in the weekend's election.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, led by Jimmie Akesson, entered into parliament for the first time following Sunday's election, winning 20 of the 349 parliamentary seats.
Fredrik Reinfeldt's governing Alliance coalition won 49.2 per cent of the vote and 172 seats, but fell short of a majority by three seats.
Speaking from Sweden, Svensson, who is a vice-chair of parliament's GUE group and chair of the women's rights committee, told TheParliament.com, "Of course we are very worried - we don't know what will happen."
She added, "I see a lot of people in Sweden who are very sad, and there will be demonstrations today against this racism to show that they have no support from the majority of the people in Sweden."
Svensson welcomed Reinfeldt's promise not to "cooperate with or be made dependent on the Sweden Democrats".
The Red-Green opposition coalition, which received 43.6 per cent of the vote and 157 seats, also refused to work with the far-right.
Svensson added, "A big majority of people in Sweden do not want to have them [the Sweden Democrats] in parliament.
"We are very afraid about what will happen, because Sweden is known as a society which welcomes immigrants and now we do not know what politics will look like in the future."
Parliament's EPP group - which includes the Moderate and Christian Democratic parties from Reinfeldt's alliance - was more positive about the outcome of the election.
"I warmly congratulate PM Fredrik Reinfeldt for his historic re-election in Sweden," said EPP president Wilfried Martens.
"Reinfeldt, a prominent prime minister of the EPP, has received again the broad support of the Swedish people because he was able, first and foremost, to tackle effectively and convincingly the economic crisis in his country.
"The all time low support of the Swedish Socialists further proves that the centre-right EPP approach is the only credible approach to resolve the current economic and financial crisis in the EU and the member states."
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