Located in the middle of Skåne’s beautiful countryside, the small town of Sjöbo feels far away from the evil world. There are no signs of the gang crime, murders and explosions that plague Sweden here.
Sjöbo is Sweden’s most Swedish-democratic municipality. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, almost 40 percent of voters voted for the Sweden Democrats.
Crime and gang violence in particular has emerged as one of the absolute main issues in Sweden’s parliamentary elections to be held on Sunday. A large part of the violence is concentrated in the suburbs, where many people of immigrant background live.
The Sweden Democrats have long pursued a strict immigration policy, and the party also demands more police officers and more decisive measures against crime. These demands may elevate the Sweden Democrats to the second largest party, overtaking the moderate coalition.
The number one position of the Social Democrats is secured, partly the prime minister Magdalena Andersson thanks to personal favoritism.
It’s calm in Sjöbo, but there’s fear here too
Even though Sjöbo is sleepily calm, the fear of the increase in crime is palpable here as well.
– Yes, we are afraid. My friends lock the front door when they go to sit on the terrace and there are many kinds of doorbell ringers, says a senior citizen walking with his friend Gun Rosdahl.
He connects the problems to immigration and says that things started to get worse in 2015, when a lot of asylum seekers came to Sweden.
Gang violence and shootings are present in the news in Sjöbo, but even here there are disturbing features in everyday life, says the school attendance assistant Monica Jonsson.
– There are more drugs in circulation in Sjöbo than before, I think we are no longer talking about a big city problem.
Monica Jönsson has not yet decided who to vote for, but she also thinks that an attitude movement and a bourgeois government are needed instead of the Social Democrats.
– Hospital care is a disaster, there are no policemen, there are shootings every day and the guilty are not punished severely enough.
“Sweden’s direction is wrong”
Sjöbo, the leader of the Sweden Democrats André af Geijerstam is a candidate for the Diet. According to him, the Sweden Democrats are successful in Sjöbo because people see what is happening in the bigger cities of the nearby area, Lund and Malmö.
– The direction is wrong. Schools are in a terrible mess and the number of problem areas is increasing all the time. There is a large group of people who may never go to work and that results in crime and other problems.
Af Geijerstam may enter the Diet if the support predicted for the Sweden Democrats in the polls is correct. In his opinion, it is clear where the dismantling of problems related to crime and immigration must start.
– First of all, the arrival of new people to Sweden must be stopped, because there are already so many marginalized and unemployed people here. They need to be put to work so that they become part of Swedish society.
Sjöbo gained a xenophobic reputation when a refugee center was stopped in the municipality in the 1980s with a controversial referendum. The referendum campaigners founded the anti-immigrant Sjöbo party, which will not participate in the elections this time.
An immigrant does not see racism in Sjöbo
The Sweden Democrats are also accused of racism.
– Decades ago, there were really strange people in our store, but that is a thing of the past, says André af Geijerstam.
A Kurdish person selling vegetables at the Sjöbo market Twana Abdullah haven’t noticed any signs of racism in Sjöbo.
– Politicians are also my acquaintances – both Democrats and Sweden Democrats. I know them all, they are my clients, Abdullah laughs.
If the Sweden Democrats become Sweden’s second largest party on Sunday, it would crown a development that began in 2010. That’s when the Sweden Democrats made it to the Diet for the first time, and since then the party has increased its support in every election.
The Sweden Democrats are on the nerves of time
Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University by Tommy Möller according to Sweden Democrats have sensed the atmosphere of society better than other parties
– The Sweden Democrats have been successful from election to election because their immigration stance has been closer to the voters’ thoughts. Other parties have taken a more generous line, says Möller.
Now the moderate coalition, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats demand tougher measures against gang criminals and promise a more determined integration of immigrants.
“The credibility of the Sweden Democrats increased”
The parties are clearly trying to overcome the Sweden Democrats’ lead with promises of a stricter line. One would imagine that this would eat into the support of the Sweden Democrats, but this does not seem to be the case.
– The Sweden Democrats’ way of describing the problem has become universal. This also seems to benefit the Sweden Democrats, because it gives the impression that the party has been right all along, says Professor Tommy Möller.
In Sjöbo, a vegetable seller with a Kurdish background still wants to say something and shouts that young immigrants who join criminal gangs should be returned to where they came from.
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Analysis: The tension is growing in the Swedish elections – the Swedish Democrats are now bigger than the coalition