SWEDISH ELECTION REFLECTS A BIG SHIFT: Far right has made big gains in the Swedish general elections. As counting of votes continues, early results point at the rightwing bloc taking a slim lead. Sweden Democrats, if they manage to pull it off, will be causing nothing short of a political earthquake in Stockholm. Even if the party becomes the country’s second-largest by vote share, it is enough for the rightwing bloc to edge ahead of the incumbent centre-left. It appears that the leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, will raise a toast or two today, and the Social Democrat Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson might be left wondering: what just happened? (Sadiq Shaban, Opinion Editor)
AFP