Polls show a surge in support for the right-wing Sweden Democrats, who are expected to increase their vote share in the election on September 9, while support for the ruling Social Democrats, who won 31 per cent of votes in the 2014 election, is predicted to drop.
Ann-Sofie Hermansson, Gothenburg’s mayor, spoke of the problems the Swedish city faces, the Financial Times reported.
She said: “It’s a really divided city. The inequality also creates social unrest, criminality, extremists.”
It comes as the leader of the conservative Moderates party Ulf Kristersson discussed the “whole new parliamentary situation” that has swept the country.
He said: “I’m not going to set out my conditions in advance. I note that we have a responsibility to our voters to try to implement our policies and do the best we can.
“It is a whole new parliamentary situation.
“Every new government will need, by Swedish standards, to be a humble government which understands that it is the parliament that holds the power, not the government.”
The Social Democrats – who are currently ruling in a minority coalition with the Green Party – remain Sweden’s biggest party, according to a poll by Sifo/SvD released on August 31.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are ranking in second place with 16.9 per cent of votes.
And the Moderates have fallen into third place with 16.8 per cent of votes.
Support for right-wing parties in Sweden has not been common until recent years.
The Sweden Democrats gained popularity for their anti-immigration stance.
The party – first elected to the Riksdag in 2010 – pushed back against the arrival of 163,000 asylum-seekers to Sweden in 2015.
Professor Anders Todal Jenssen from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology said the Sweden Democrats are introducing a “whole new agenda” with its politics.
He said: “With the new focus on anti-immigration policies, the Sweden Democrats have enriched the political landscape and created new dimensions since the last election.
“The party has come entered Swedish politics with a whole new agenda and are stealing voters from both the Social Democrats and the Moderate party.”
Populist parties have seen a surge in support across Europe in recent times.
In Italy, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and right-wing League formed a coalition in the country’s elections this year.
And in the 2017 German elections far-right party AfD won 12.6 per cent of votes.