Tuesday 16 September 2014

Autumnal Confusion

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We’ve been having a mild and sunny September so far, and Nature seems a little bit confused at times.

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Here in Sweden we just had an election which led to a rather confused political situation as well. When most of the votes were counted late on Sunday night, it stood clear that the previous mid/right Alliance government (consisting of four parties which have appeared as a united front during the past eight years) had lost; and the prime minister took the radical decision not only to hand in his resignation from that position, but as leader of his party as well (and thereby also the alliance).

The most likely (or really, the only) candidate as new prime minister is his main opponent, the leader of the Social Democrates (still by far the biggest party in the parliament); but at the same time, not even the support of both his closest allies (Green and Left) is enough to give these three parties majority in the parliament.

2014-09-04 Fristad, street art

Because as Joker in the game, we also have a growing right-wing populist party which none of the other parties (neither the left wing ones nor the former alliance) want to be associated with. This party crossed the 4% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation back in 2010, but in this election got nearly 13% of the votes and thus more than doubled their representation; which means they can no longer easily be “ignored”.

If you like, read a bit more about it all in a BBC News report on the Swedish election here.

This far, no one really knows what’s going to happen. And it will be another couple of weeks of speculations at least, before a new prime minister can be officially appointed and a new government presented.

12 comments:

  1. your politics sound just like ours and i don't even read about ours... i vote for the one i hate the least..

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    1. I don't usually get much involved in political debates (even if I always do vote and think it important to do so) but this year there have been a lot of media discussions about really important things and I have found myself taking a bigger interest than usual in following the pre-election debates (and as it turned out, also the post-election ones)

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  2. So did you vote? Some people around here just get furious if we don't vote, saying it was a precious right that was fought very hard for. But if I do not like either, I will then vote for no one. I love the gorgeous mushrooms, they look like they are from a fairy tale book.

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    1. Yes Ginny, I always vote, and I do think that in honour of democracy, one should. (As protest, if there is no party one thinks deserves a vote, better to hand in a blank one than not to vote at all.) - The mushrooms are fly agaric, beautiful but poisonous!

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  3. There was a longish bit on the main evening news on German telly about the Swedish elections on the weekend. Like in your country, an up until now small party of right-wing populists has recently grown to the point of making it into the parliaments of several provinces (not the federal one yet, though - there is a 5 % threshold for that here). I do hope your country will have a government that makes the right decisions for its people.

    As for nature's confusion: I believe the flowers in your first pictures are not the spring-type crocus, but what in German is called Herbstzeitlose. They are considered the first messengers of autumn here, and my Mum and I saw some in the meadows on our walk to the allotment in August already.

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    1. Meike, I have to confess I was just going for a bit of drama, to tie in with the politics... I think the flower is autumn crocus = Crocus speciosus (which is supposed to bloom this time of year) :) It's just that they grow in the same place where I usually also see the first spring crocuses in spring!

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  4. Gosh the political scene in your country seems rather confusing.....we have two main parties and between the two of them contribute to lots of confusion here on the island.
    Hope it all settles down soon.

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    1. It is indeed more complicated right now than it has been in a while, Virginia. At the same time, I'm not sure at all that I'd prefer a two-party system (which I'm sure can cause confusion enough).

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  5. I'm used to both systems: in the UK (where we have first past the post and proportional representation systems in place for different parliaments) and New Zealand. There is no system without its problems.

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  6. I do love those toadstools! They always seem rather magical to me.

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  7. I love the Autumn Crocus. We have them here but they are very rare and only really found as a garden plant. And Fly Agaric are beautiful, always, but where are the little Tomtar?

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  8. Graham, I'm pretty sure you're right!
    Jenny, I agree. They remind me of fairy tale books from childhood.
    Scriptor, tomtarna (Swedish grammar is complex!) are pretty shy and somehow never seem to come out in full daylight...

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