Petrol For the People

In a video produced for the 2022 Swedish general election campaign, the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats poses at a petrol station. “1300 SEK [£100] to fill the tank of a regular Volvo! Do we want it to be like this?” he asks, petrol pump flashing in the background. “If you want something else, vote for the Sweden Democrats.” Since dubbed the “energy election” by political scientists, much of the campaign was fought not on the usual issues of immigration or crime but on energy and climate. Electricity and fuel prices, along with nuclear energy, dominated, particularly in the final days and weeks before polling.

In the end, the Sweden Democrats achieved a stunning success, surpassing the right-wing Moderates for the first time. In doing so they became the country’s largest right-of-centre party. This was by no means unexpected; the far right surged in the decade leading up to the election, growing from zero seats in the 2006 parliament, with under 3 per cent of the vote, to 73 in 2022, with 20.5 per cent of the vote. They are now firmly established as one of Europe’s most powerful parties of the emergent far right.