VARIOUS: SWEDES VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTION TWO WEEKS AFTER ALLEGED PLANE HIJACK ATTEMPT MADE NATION REALISE THEIR COUNTRY WAS NOT IMMUNE TO INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
Record ID:
328804
VARIOUS: SWEDES VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTION TWO WEEKS AFTER ALLEGED PLANE HIJACK ATTEMPT MADE NATION REALISE THEIR COUNTRY WAS NOT IMMUNE TO INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
- Title: VARIOUS: SWEDES VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTION TWO WEEKS AFTER ALLEGED PLANE HIJACK ATTEMPT MADE NATION REALISE THEIR COUNTRY WAS NOT IMMUNE TO INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
- Date: 14th September 2002
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 10, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV STREETS WITH ELECTION POSTERS 4.24 2. MV MAN FROM THE LIBERAL PARTY "FOLKPARTIET" HANDING OUT LEAFLETS; SLV PEOPLE IN THE STREET/ POSTERS (6 SHOTS) 0.25 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 9, 2002) (REUTERS) 3. MV LEADER OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY GORAN PERSSON AND LEADER OF THE RIGHT-OF-CENTRE PARTY "MODERATERNA", BO LUNDGREN ARRIVING FOR TELEVISION DEBATE AT SWEDISH TELEVISION; MV PERSSON AND LUNDGREN SHAKING HANDS (3 SHOTS) 0.41 4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) PERSSON SAYING "The most important issue is the economic development that would give us full employment and resources to do even more both healthcare and the school system." 0.55 5. MV SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORTERS CHEERING AS GORAN PERSSON COMES OUT AND DRIVES OFF; MV MODERATE PARTY SUPPORTERS SHOUTING "OUT WITH THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS." (5 SHOTS) 1.26 6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) LEADER OF "MODERATERNA", BO LUNDGREN, SAYING "One of the forgotten issues of the election campaign is whether we should have better economic growth or to continue lagging behind other countries. For me improving growth, more people at work and more knowledge in work are the vital question. Then there is a question about how to use tax money. We want lower taxes but on the other hand we want to improve the way tax money is used by getting rid of the queues in hospitals and so forth." 1.55 7. SLV SUPPORTERS CHEER AS LUNDGREN COMES OUT OF BUILDING (4 SHOTS) 2.27 PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (MAY 2, 2001) (REUTERS) 8. MV GORAN PERSSON MEETING NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM CHONG-IL DURING THE EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION VISIT TO NORTH KOREA (4 SHOTS) GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN (JUNE, 2001) (REUTERS) 9. MV GORAN PERSSON MEETING U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH DURING THE EU-US SUMMIT 2.55 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 10, 2002) (REUTERS) 10. SLV EXTERIORS OF SWEDEN'S PARLIAMENT BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 3.02 RINKEBY DISTRICT, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 10, 2002) (REUTERS) 11. SLV POLICE WALKING ACROSS SQUARE; SLV IMMIGRANTS WALKING, BUYING FOOD AT THE MARKET; SLV ELECTION POSTER OF GORAN PERSSON; MV WOMAN IN BURKA WALKING ACROSS SQUARE (2 SHOTS) 3.14 12. MV ELECTION POSTER OF SOCIAL DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT ABDIRISAK ADEN SHOWING HIM WITH THE CAMEL IN FRONT OF THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING READING "FROM CAMEL BOY TO PARLIAMENT DEPUTY."; ADEN TALKING TO PEOPLE ON STREET ON SQUARE (9 SHOTS) 3.41 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOCIAL DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT ABDIRISAK ADEN, SAYING "The U.S. and the United Nations have to say that they have done a mistake when they put me on that list and then I can ask for compensation." 3.55 14. SLV EXTERIORS SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY ELECTION CENTRE ON RINKEBY SQUARE 3.58 15. MV IMMIGRANTS BUYING FOOD AT THE MARKET; SCU ELECTION POSTER OF ANOTHER CANDIDATE READING "MY NAME IS JOE, THE NUMBER IS NINE" (2 SHOTS) 4.06 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 10, 2002) (REUTERS) 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Swedish) GEORGE AHO "Just look, the whole country was built with the social democratic policy. I hope that many would agree. This policy is good for companies, helps people to get education and raise children." 4.27 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LISELOTT MITCHELL, SAYING "Income taxes, taxes on my properties, education because I study, apartment situation, because I really like to move away from home but there are no apartments, they are not building much these days." 4.47 18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GUNILLA WETTERSTOM, SAYING "Some of the parties now have focused on the questions of immigrants, language and so on and I think there is a hidden racism under that." 5.00 19. SLV WOMEN WALKING ACROSS THE RINKEBY SQUARE 5.03 20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDRE JUHTE, SAYING "Just lately there was this incident at the airport when a person was tried to board a plane with a hand gun. Things like that make people think more about security, that maybe we should spent a little bit more money on security issues to make sure something like what happened in the U.S. does not happen in Sweden." 5.25 21. MV ELECTION POSTER 5.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th September 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: STOCKHOLM, GOTHENBURG; SWEDEN/ PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA
- City:
- Country: Sweden North Korea
- Reuters ID: LVA7K7QCZMFBABJOUPJ07ZIY2T00
- Story Text: Swedes vote in general election this Sunday, two weeks
after an alleged plane hijack attempt made this prosperous
nation of eight million people realise their country was not
immune to international terrorism.
The Social Democratic Party and the coalition of four
centre-right opposition parties were on Friday (September 13, 2002)
running neck-to-neck in their quest to win Sunday's (September
15) general election. Taxes and the welfare state issues have
dominated the campaign.
The Social Democrats and their centre-left allies
campaign for reducing the differences in disposable income
between high and low-wage earners, calling for more jobs in
the state health service and education as well as for higher
public sector wages.
"The most important issue is the economic development
that would give us full employment and resources to do even
more both healthcare and school system," Prime Minister and
Social Democratic party leader Goran Persson said after a
heated TV debate with his main rival, leader of the Moderates
Bo Lundgren.
The coalition of centre-right opposition parties, of
which the Moderates are the biggest, calls for the gradual
reduction of taxes and public spending. The Moderates argue
that high taxation has hampered Sweden's development and led
to the slide to 17th position in the OECD's GDP per capita
from fourth place in 1970.
"One of the forgotten issues of the election campaign is
whether we should have better economic growth or to continue
lagging behind other countries. For me improving growth, more
people at work and more knowledge in work are the vital
question. Then there is a question about how to use tax money.
We want lower taxes but on the other hand we want to improve
the way tax money is used by getting rid of the queues in
hospitals and so forth," said Bo Lundgren after the TV debate.
The 53-year-old leader of the Social Democrats has been
prime minister since 1996 and a member of parliament since
1979. During Sweden's EU presidency in 2001, Persson led
European Union's delegation to North Korea and met it's leader
Kim Jong Il. He also represented the Union in talks with the
American president George W. Bush.
Persson's main rival, 54-year-old Bo Lundgren, has been a
member of parliament since 1975 and party leader since 1999.
Lundgren held an office of minister of taxation and sports
in the 1991-94.
His personal ratings have so far been poor and caused a
rift between centre-right parties over who should be the prime
minister in case they get majority of votes.
As in many other European countries immigration has
surfaced as a major topic in election campaign.
About a million of Sweden's nine million people are first-
or second-generation immigrants. Surveys show a third of
Swedes think too many immigrants have been let in and a
quarter say they would not want a Muslim family next door.
But no populist far-right party has taken root, unlike in
Scandinavian neighbours Denmark and Norway.
The anti-immigrant Swedish Democrats, who compare
themselves to Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France,
look unlikely to win even two percent of the nationwide vote.
Many immigrants live in the Rinkeby area on the outskirts
of Stockholm. The area has become compaigning ground for
Somali born Social Democratic party candidate Abdirisak Aden.
On his campaign poster Aden is seen posing with a camel in
front of the parliament building. "From camel boy to a
Parliament member", his poster reads.
Until only three weeks ago Aden was on the United Nations'
list of suspected terrorists for involvement with Al Barakaat,
the main financial organisation that the Somalis living abroad
use to transfer funds into the country. According to the
United States, Al Bakaraat had links with Al Qaida and was
closed down.
His income was subsequently frozen which made campaigning
difficult. But the local party and friends helped with posters
and administration.
Aden's name has been removed from the list on August 27th
and he is now waiting for an apology and is currently
discussing with his lawyers possible claims for compensation.
"The U.S. and the United Nations have to say that they
have done a mistake when they put me on that list and then I
can ask for compensation," said Aden.
When asked about what they thought were the most
important issues in this election, people in the streets of
Stockholm gave different answers ranging from childcare and
tax to national security and immigration.
"Just look, the whole country was built with the social
democratic policy. I hope that many would agree. This policy
is good for companies, helps people to get education and raise
children," said George Aho," said one Stockholm resident.
"Income taxes, taxes on my properties, education because
I study, apartment situation, because I really like to move
away from home but there are no apartments, they are not
building much these days," said Liselott Michell.
"Some of the parties now have focused on the questions of
immigrants, language and so on and I think there is a hidden
racism under that," said Gunilla Wetterstrom.
"Just lately there was this incident at the airport when
a person was tried to board a plane with a hand gun. Things
like that make people think more about security, that maybe we
should spent a little bit more money on security issues to
make sure something like what happened in the U.S. does not
happen in Sweden," said Alexandre Juhte.
Up to 30 percent of Swedes, who are to elect 349
parliament deputies as well as members of municipal and county
councils, remain undecided or may change their mind, voter
studies show.
The Social Democrats, who have run Sweden for six of the
past seven decades, have slipped from support of more than 40
percent earlier this year to levels near their 1998 election
result of 36.4 percent, the party's worst since 1920.
Two out of three Swedes depend on the public sector,
either as employees or recipients of tax-financed income
transfers. At least four out of five tend to exercise their
right to vote.
Polls suggest the two blocs might be separated by as few
as 100,000 votes out of the 6.72 million electorate.
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