Sweden is to hold its first snap election in over half a century after the new minority centre-left government’s first budget was defeated in parliament.<br /><br /> It comes after the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats sided with the centre-right opposition. <br /><br /> Prime Minister Stefan Lofven blamed the centre-right he replaced in power less than three months ago for giving an effective veto to the far-right Sweden Democrats, who won 13 percent of the vote in September’s election.<br /><br /> “The previous four government parties made clear during the campaign in August and September that they would not let the Sweden Democrats get that kind of influence,” he told a news conference. <br /><br /> “Now they just gave them that kind of influence. That is exactly why we are calling this extra election.”<br /><br /> Lofven’s Social Democrat-Green coalition has been widely viewed as Sweden’s weakest government in decades.<br /><br /> Shunned by mainstream parties, the Sweden Democrats have threatened to make Sweden effectively ungovernable unless the country adopts tough immigration policies, including a 90 percent cut in the number of asylum seekers.<br /><br /> The party doubled its vote in September’s election to become the third largest party, echoing recent poll successes for the far right across Europe.<br /><br /> In neighbours Denmark and Finland, anti-immigration parties are now among the three most popular in some opinion polls. In Norway, a rightist populist party is in the ruling coalition. <br /><br /> The crisis has shaken the image of Sweden, a country often held up as a paragon of political and fiscal stability, in contrast to crisis-hit Europe. <br /><br /> Sweden’s early election will be held on March 22.
