Victory for opposition in Swedish elections

Breaking news(Digg story): The opposition Moderate Party has claimed victory over the long-ruling Social Democrats, according to the latest numbers in the polls.

In the Swedish general election, the Alliance for Sweden, led by the centre-right (economic liberalism, conservative in terms of believing in individual rights) Moderate Party, won the election. This gave the Social Democratic Party their worst election loss in decades. The Social Democrats came to power with the ideals of a social democracy (a relatively moderate and left-of-centre semi-socialist idealism believing in democracy, but far from believing the ideals of communism or "old" traditional socialism). They created a universal welfare and suffrage system while making Sweden one of the most educated, well off, and sought after (e.g. HDI) government within Europe and elsewhere.

Although the Social Democratic Party won more votes and has more seats, the parliamentary alliance between the members of the Alliance for Sweden have the majority with their combined votes and seats. The current Social Democratic Prime Minister Göran Persson has conceded defeat and acknowledged the Alliance's win.

Because of the Swede's tight welfare system, it is believed that many voted for the centre-right Moderates to get welfare reform. It is my hope, however, that the Moderates will not undo the positives that the Swedish welfare system has brought along, things such as decent education spending and being able to support the economy well with mainly jobs in the services industries.

Sweden and other Nordic nations are models economically and socially for many countries around the world — developed and developing — for dealing with a new global economy, rising industrial powers such as India and China, and becoming more secular and educated. It would be interesting to have a forum among Swedes to see what they think. However, from what I have read, the change shant be too drastic. Yes, economic changes in welfare and jobs (one of Sweden's socioeconomic faults is its not-so-stellar unemployment rate) are needed, but the Swedish government should keep much of the underlying infrastructure and retain the Nordic model — besides what the more libertarian Switzerland has done, that seems to be one of — if not the — best systems of government spending on the planet.

The Nordic model is a welfare and government spending system prevalent in the Scandinavian nations (i.e. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland). It emphasizes that, in this modern and less-manufacturing, more-services age, decent education for everyone is needed. The system, to put it frankly, taxes much and spends a fair amount on needed policies (as government and community sees fit). The beauty of the system is that it minimizes the bureaucracy.

* "The Local's Election blog" by The Local (Sweden's major English-language news source)
* "Narrow win for Swedish opposition" by BBC News
** More related stories... at Google News
* An article on the Swedish government's website (in English) on the elections

* What the international press is saying; background on the Swedish elections from The Local

* "Elections in Sweden" a Wikipedia article

More information added on 18 September 2006.

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