Helle, facing demons at home POPULISM is on a roll in Scandinavia. Norway’s Progress Party has helped to rule the country since its general election in 2013. Next door, the Sweden Democrats increased their representation in parliament with almost 13% of the vote in an election three months ago. Now, if a recent opinion poll is to be believed, the Danish People’s Party (DPP) has become the most popular in Denmark, a nose ahead of both the Social Democrats, who head the current government, and the centre-right Liberals, who led the previous one. Megafon, a pollster, puts the DPP at 21.2%, the Liberals at 20.9% and the Social Democrats at 19.8%.The three far-right Scandinavian parties have much in common: a deep-rooted suspicion of immigrants and of the European Union (EU); a taste for old-fashioned law and order; and a fondness for patriotic symbols. Yet their fates are unfolding in quite different ways.Norway’s Progress Party has lost ground since it joined government, as voters have become disenchanted by its failure to honor its election promises. The Sweden Democrats’ triumphant march into parliament has been followed by the…
The Economist: Europe
