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Is Europe Shifting to the Right?
November 25, 2015
Anti-Immigration and hard right parties are gaining more ground in Europe. This time it’s the turn of the Sweden Democrats, a poll by YouGov suggest the far right party are now 5 points clear of any other with 26.7% of the votes. The success has gained support off the back of the opposition, in a country that has accepted more refugees relative to the size of population than any other European nation.
The hard right in Europe appears to be gaining ground electorally based on a tougher attitude towards immigration policy. In Sweden the far right party came in third place on 12.9% of the vote in comparison to 5.7% of the vote in 2010 and 1.49% in 2006.
In Germany the Eurosceptic AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) recieved their best polling result achieving 10.5% playing again on the refugee card. Dutch pollsters put the Party for Freedom not just in the lead for the next election scheduled for March 2017 but 19 points clear of the next political party.
In the rest of Europe, it’s a similar story on immigration and the far right. Austria’s Freedom Party leads every poll conducted for the last six months. Italy‘s Lega Nord’s polling average is around 15%, after getting just 4.1% in the 2013 election.
In France, there’s justifiably been no polling since the brutal attacks in Paris. The front National leader Marine Le Pen who has built up significant support on an anti-immigration platform looks increasingly strong for the 2017 presidential election. Le Pen has already demanded an immediate halt of all migrant flows into France since the Paris attacks.
It is likely with increased refugee status within European countries, issues like Paris and the Calais crisis in the UK, means there night be increased support for hard right political parties throughout Europe. It is worth keeping an eye on such political developments especially when party political platforms are based upon extensive immigration reform.
If you have any queries regarding immigration in Europe please contact us for further information.
