NORRTALJE, Sweden – Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was on the campaign trail Sunday, a week before Sweden’s national election, to address fears over gang violence and rising electricity bills.
Andersson traveled by bus to communities near Stockholm to try to calm the voters. The Sept. 11 election comes amid a sense of increasing insecurity, with a spate of shootings in Sweden making crime a key campaign issue.
Russia’s war against Ukraine led to Sweden, together with Finland, taking the historic step of applying to join NATO. That move has reassured many and is so uncontested that it has not been an issue in the pre-election campaign.
But Andersson said Russia’s energy “warfare” against Europe, including a shutdown of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, has become an issue voters continue to raise with her as she campaigns for her left-leaning Sweden Democratic Party.
“A lot of people are worried about their electricity bills given Putin’s war on energy,” the 55-year-old leader said in comments to The Associated Press after a visit to a nursing home in Norrtälje, a town north of Stockholm.
“I mean he has a military invasion of Ukraine, but he also has energy warfare against Europe, so people are very concerned about electricity bills but also about crime and climate.”
Her government pledged on Saturday to provide $23 billion in liquidity guarantees to power companies, a move that followed the disruption of Nord Stream 1 and was meant to prevent a financial crisis.
Another concern for Andersson is the rising popularity of a populist far-right party with its historical roots in the Nazi movement, the Sweden Democrats.
The party, which has worked to mainstream its image, is closer to power than it has ever been, leading many Swedish voters to fear it could end up in a key position in power in a right-wing coalition. The anti-migrant party has gained in popularity as the country has struggled to integrate large numbers of migrants. Critics fear its far-right roots make it a threat to the county’s democratic foundations.
Surveys show that a right-wing coalition including the Sweden Democrats has a chance of winning power, even if the race is expected to be close.
Andersson told the AP she is concerned, noting that a right-wing party staffer sent out an email last week inviting people to celebrate the Nazi invasion of Poland 83 years ago.
“That kind of invitation would never happen in any other parties in Sweden. Having said that, many of the Sweden Democrats’ voters are decent people who are disappointed with the development,” she said.
Against the backdrop of shootings and the challenge from the right, the Social Democrats have sharpened their stance in recent years. In this campaign, the party has promised tougher measures to fight crime alongside promises to preserve the Scandinavian country’s famous welfare protections.
Andersson and her party said she believes the problems can be solved together and that the welfare system is one of the best weapons to fight crime.
Andersson told the AP that her solution to crime involves building up the police force and putting more of the criminals behind bars, while also addressing the social roots of the problem.
“We also have to work harder to prevent new generations from choosing a life of crime. And I think the only way to do that is to stop the segregation we have in Sweden,” she said.
Andersson traveled in a large red bus emblazoned with the words “our Sweden can do better.” After leaving the senior center, she headed to a fair in the Botkyrka park area where party activists wore t-shirts that read “I’m voting for Magdalena” and where families with multicultural immigrant backgrounds lined up for pony rides and other attractions.
Andersson is Sweden’s first ever female prime minister. She took up the job last November after her predecessor, Stefan Lofven, stepped down after leading the party and the country since 2014.
At the same time as she has to fight the perception that her party has failed to stop the gang violence affecting the country. In her favor is a reputation for being a steady and competent hand who has governed with a slim majority and through a time of geopolitical upheaval.
At the party fair, Annelie Gustafsson, a 45-year-old mother who carries her daughter on her shoulders, did not want to say who she voted for. But she made it clear that her vote was meant to keep the Sweden Democrats out of power. She opposes their unwelcoming attitude towards migrants.
“This year it was about which party I don’t want to see run the country, and that’s really important to me,” she said. “I’m proud to be Swedish, I’m proud of the people here, and what we help other people… So closing the country, that’s not for me.”