Slight right turn

last updated 8 January 2015

Stockholm

Swedish voters have kicked out the center-left party that has ruled for 65 of the last 74 years. A center-right alliance, led by Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party, won a narrow victory in last week’s parliamentary elections and will begin forming a new government. Sweden’s welfare state has long been extremely popular, and the past 12 years of Social Democratic rule produced an economic boom. Some critics, though, said the government was fudging the numbers of unemployed, and the Moderates campaigned on the need for job creation. Reinfeldt is not expected to make radical changes to Sweden’s extensive social programs, though he’ll likely cut taxes.