Peilingen voorspellen geringe verschillen bij Zweedse verkiezingen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Swedish election campaign is coming to an end as election day nears, with a tight run expected between the ruling left-wing coalition led by the social democrats and the right-wing alliance led by the Moderate Party.

But the Scandinavian country has seen every else but its traditionally relaxed political climate in the run up to polling day. The election campaign has been hit by a "Vasagate" scandal, an attempted bomb-attack and has been influenced by digital pirates, big brother and even Jane Fonda.

On Sunday (17 September) 9 million Swedes will go to the polls and decide who they want to run the country for the next four years with a political party to fit just about everyone's taste.

The Swedish social democrats have governed Sweden in 65 of the last 74 years, either alone or in coalitions, and also in the last 12 years together with the Green and the Left Party.

Prime minister Goran Persson, 57, has delivered the fastest economy growth in six years but the party has failed on its promise to halve unemployment rates - running at 6.3 percent - to the anger of many Swedes.

The government has also received much criticism in the last four years, including of its slow response to the Asian tsunami in 2004, which killed more than 500 Swedes.

The four-party centre-right opposition alliance, led by Moderate party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, 41, proposes tax cuts to help boost employment. The Alliance for Sweden also includes the Centre Party, the People's Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats.

Polls show the ruling coalition as leading with 47.9 percent of the voters, while 47.3 percent of the voters support the centre-right alliance, according to the latest Sifo survey.

Sweden is one of the world's richest countries with the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, last month reporting an annual Swedish growth rate of 5 percent in the second quarter of 2006 compared to same period last year - the clocks in at around double the EU's 2.6 percent average.

The "Vasagate" scandal

Two weeks ago, the election campaign was hit by a Watergate-like scandal when a member of the People's Liberal youth party accessed the social democrat party's intranet after coming across the log-in details of a local politician and gained access to secret campaign information as well as security communiqués exchanged with the police forces.

On Tuesday (12 September) Swedish police evacuated a square in the southern city of Malmo after finding a firebomb near the People's Liberal party election booth.

Bomb disposal experts removed the device and said it consisted of two canisters filled with what appeared to be gasoline and a fuse, according to the police.

Despite the recent events, the People's Liberal party has slightly advanced in the polls in the latest polls.

Ahoy Pirates!

The Pirate Party are counting on the support of younger voters familiar with the digital world.

The party wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected.

"With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in the Swedish parliament," the Pirate Party say on their website.

Feminism still going strong

Meanwhile, US actress Jane Fonda on Friday (15 September) urged Swedes to vote for a small feminist party, which polls predicted will not even make it to the parliament.

"It may be threatening to some, the idea of a feminist party," she said at a news conference in Stockholm. "But we're not talking about changing patriarchy to a matriarchy. We're talking about changing patriarchy to democracy. That's what feminism represents."

Then there's Big Brother Linda. Linda Rosig is a model, singer, writer, former big brother inmate and now party leader for Unika Partiet, which wants to fight for the vulnerable and the discriminated both in and outside Sweden.

Although the newly established party hopes to make an impact at this weekend's general election, the Unika Party aims to make a real breakthrough at the next European Parliament elections in 2009.

It is unlikely that the eurosceptic cross party the June List will be able to pass the four percent threshold and win seats in the 349-member Swedish parliament. The party scored three seats in the European Parliament in the June 2004 elections.