Greens surge forward in new opinion poll

With Almedalen political week in full swing on the island of Gotland, Sweden is consumed by politics until at least the weekend - and with national elections just around the corner, the trend is unlikely to relent even then.

 

And on Monday, fresh figures from pollsters Novus showed that the Green Party (Miljöpartiet, MP) was doing something right. The party earned 12 percent of the public's support, a record-high for the party since Novus started recording in 2008 - and the biggest leap forward of all of Sweden's parties.

 

The Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna, S) raked in 30.8 percent of the support, followed by the ruling Moderate Party (Moderaterna, M) with 21.1 percent - meaning both parties suffered a drop since the last poll of its kind in May. The Moderates have trailed behind ever since March, 2012.  

 

The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) were fourth most popular with 9 percent of votes, followed by the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet, VP) with 6.9 percent and the Liberals (Folkpartiet, FP) with 6.6.

 

Jonas Hinnfors, political science professor at the University of Gothenburg, explained that the additional support for the greens could play out well if the red-green opposition wins the election in September. 

 

"It would mean they could make greater demands," he told Sveriges Radio (SR), which commissioned the survey.

 

"They've already said they won't be part of a government that doesn't close down two nuclear power plants within the next mandate period," he said, adding that the results would work in the greens' favour going forward. 

 

"They'll be a much stronger partner in potential government negotiations."

 

The Green Party polled favourably in May's EU elections, too, doubling its total seats in the European Parliament to four. The party took in 15.4 percent of Sweden's votes, enough to rank as the second most popular party after the Social Democrats.