Left, right wingers square off in closely contested 2010 Swedish polls

New Delhi, Sept.19 (ANI): Sweden is holding elections concurrently today for its Parliament (Riksdag), County Councils (Landsting) and Municipalities (Kommunfullmäktige).

A Swedish Embassy release said that the 2010 elections are divided into two main camps, the first consisting of the left wingers with the Swedish Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterna), the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna) and the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) and the second of the right wingers of the current ruling Alliance government consisting of Moderate Party (Moderaterna), Liberal People's Party (Folkpartiet Lieberlanra), the Centre Party (Centerpartiet) and the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna).

The release said that the elections are expected to be a closely fought contest between both the camps the general trends show that the current Alliance government should continue to stay in power post elections with some ministerial adjustments.

The country's largest opposition party, the Swedish Social Democratic Party, has failed to make deep inroads amongst the electorate.

After the tragic and untimely death of Anna Lindh in 2003, the party has struggled to find a charismatic leader that would be its public face and be able to galvanise support for them.

Mona Sahlin, the current party leader, was once seen as a rising star of the Swedish politics, but has never really recovered from the 'Toblerone Scandal' and is not very popular with the majority of voters.

What is most interesting is the speedy rise of the ultra nationalist Sweden Democrats party (Sverigedemokraterna).

In a country that generally prides itself in its neutrality, tolerant attitudes and openness towards immigrants, this party founded in 1988 by Jimmie Åkesson with its very hard-line view on immigration and the concept of 'Keep Sweden Swedish' has found appeal amongst many young voters, specially in the south of Sweden.

It would be interesting to see how they fare in today's elections and if they will be able to make their debut in the parliament or not. (ANI)