World

Swedes vote Sunday in legislative elections that will either pave the way for an unprecedented right-wing government supported by the far-right or a third straight mandate for the ruling Social Democrats.

Opinion polls have predicted a close race with a razor-thin lead for Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats and the left bloc, following a campaign dominated by rising gang shootings and soaring electricity prices.

Polling stations open at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and close at 8:00 pm, with final results due around midnight.

The right-wing bloc has never before agreed to cooperate with the nationalist and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, treated as “pariahs” by other political parties until recently.

The far-right has leapt to second place in opinion polls behind the Social Democrats in the final weeks of the campaign, credited with around a fifth of votes.

Their surge — overtaking the traditional leaders of the right-wing bloc, the conservative Moderates — has been attributed to an election race focused on issues close to their voters, including crime, segregation and the integration of immigrants. 

Prime Minister Andersson, 55, hopes however to hang onto power with the support of the small Left, Centre and Green parties.

Speaking to reporters at a rally on the eve of the vote in the disadvantaged Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, she said she hoped the campaign had convinced voters “that the Social Democrats are a party for ordinary people, for workers, with good safety nets, good jobs and a good future.”

“It’s a very close race, so it’s up to the Swedish people to decide,” she added.

– Tough days ahead –

Andersson, whose party has dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s, enjoys broad support among Swedes.

She has consistently beat out her challenger for the post of prime minister, Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson, by a wide margin in opinion polls.

Yet pollsters put the two blocs in an almost dead heat, predicting 49.7 to 51.6 percent of voter support for the left and 47.6 to 49.4 percent for the right.

Kristersson is the architect behind a major U-turn for the right wing.

He launched exploratory talks with the Sweden Democrats in 2019 and deepened their cooperation before the two other small right-wing parties, the Christian Democrats and to a lesser extent the Liberals, followed suit.

“As it stands, we have two fairly clear blocs,” political scientist Katarina Barrling told AFP, noting it should be fairly easy to predict the next prime minister after election night.

However, both blocs are beset by internal divisions that could make for laborious negotiations to build a coalition government.

“There are multiple red lines for the parties within the blocs that could trip up the process,” Barrling said.

The previous 2018 election ended in a political stalemate that lasted four months until the Social Democrats managed to form a minority government.

That would be a nightmare scenario this time around.

In addition to a looming economic crisis with inflation and soaring energy prices, Sweden is currently in the delicate process of joining NATO and is due to take over the EU presidency in 2023.

“The pressure to have a united and effective government is larger today than in the last election”, Barrling noted.

– ‘Enormous shift’ –

The end of the Sweden Democrats’ political isolation, and the prospect of it becoming the biggest right-wing party, is “an enormous shift in Swedish society”, said Anders Lindberg, an editorialist at left-wing tabloid Aftonbladet.

Born out of a neo-Nazi movement at the end of the 1980s, the Sweden Democrats entered parliament in 2010 with 5.7 percent of votes. They won 17.5 percent in 2018.

Its strong showing in opinion polls this time around comes as Sweden struggles to combat escalating gang shootings attributed to battles over the drugs and weapons market.

The country now tops European statistics for firearm deaths.

While the violence was once contained to locations frequented by criminals, it has spread to public spaces such as parks and shopping centres, sparking concern among ordinary Swedes in a country long known as safe and peaceful.

In one of the final debates of the campaign, Kristersson attacked the Social Democrats for having done “almost nothing” to reign in gang violence since taking power in 2014.

But Andersson, who took over the prime minister post just nine months ago after seven years as finance minister, said she was just getting started.

“I’m now asking for the Swedish people’s mandate to show what I can do with four years”.

Russia said it was pulling back troops from the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine as Kyiv announced massive territorial gains in its lightning counter-offensive.

A Moscow-backed separatist leader in the east meanwhile said Russian forces were fighting “difficult” battles against Kyiv’s troops in several parts of eastern Donetsk region.

A Ukrainian official also said Kyiv’s troops were closing in on the eastern city of Lysychansk, captured by Russian troops after fierce artillery battles in July.

Moscow’s announcement late Saturday of the pullback alongside Kyiv’s claim to have entered the town of Kupiansk are the most significant shifts in battlefield dynamics after months of fighting in eastern Ukraine that has been dominated by Moscow.

“A decision was made to regroup Russian troops stationed in the Balakliya and Izyum regions to bolster efforts along the Donetsk front,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.

News of the drawdown came just after Ukrainian special forces published images on social media showing camouflage-clad officers with automatic weapons “in Kupiansk”, a town of about 27,000 people.

Ukrainian troops had also liberated Vasylenkovo and Artemivka in Kharkiv region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Saturday.

“These last days, the Russian army has shown us its best (side) — its back,” he said. “There is no place in Ukraine for the occupiers. There never will be,” he added.

Separately speaking to the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, Zelensky said Russia “is doing everything to break the resistance of Ukraine, Europe and the world during the 90 days of this (coming) winter”, counting on an eventual weakening of Western support for Kyiv due to rising energy prices and heating problems.

“It’s their final argument,” he said.

Observers expect Ukrainian forces to make further gains in the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia and has been either controlled by Moscow-backed authorities or shelled by its artillery for months.

– ‘Astonishing’ advance –

There was no official confirmation that Kyiv’s troops had also routed Russian forces from Izyum — an important staging ground for Moscow’s war effort with a population of around 45,000 people before the invasion.

But images flooding social media appeared to show Ukrainian forces within the city and Russian observers of the conflict said there were initial reports Moscow’s army had already withdrawn.

“Ukrainian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine, liberating more cities and villages. Their courage coupled with Western military support brings astonishing results,” said foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko. 

“It’s crucial to keep sending arms to Ukraine. Defeating Russia on the battlefield means winning peace in Ukraine,” he added.

Ukraine’s push appears to have caught Russian troops largely off guard.

State media on Friday published footage of Russian tanks, artillery and support vehicles moving towards Kharkiv in columns on dirt roads — a bid to dispatch reinforcements to the region.

But a day later, Russia announced a three-day operation to redeploy forces, moving away from Kharkiv to the industrial Donbas region further south. 

– Houses gutted –

The capture of urban hubs like Kupiansk and Izyum would be a serious blow to Moscow’s ability to resupply its positions on the eastern frontline, and could see Russia’s hold over the east severely diminished.

In one village captured by the advancing Ukrainians, electric pylons were toppled, cables lay across the ground and houses were gutted, AFP journalists reported.

On the road towards the recaptured town of Balakliya, the journalists saw abandoned Russian armour painted with the letter “Z” — a symbol of Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian troops were also advancing along portions of the southern front line, a spokesperson said Saturday, in some regions by dozens of kilometres, into territory captured by Russian troops at the beginning of the invasion.

Russian news agencies reported six large explosions in Nova Kakhovka, a town held by Russian troops in the southern Kherson region.

In the eastern Donetsk region, rebel leader Denis Pushilin said the situation in the town of Lyman was “very difficult” and that there was also fighting in “a number of other localities”, particularly in the northern part of the region.

– German pledge –

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday for a surprise visit, which she said was to demonstrate Berlin’s support for Ukraine.

It came a week after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s trip to Berlin where he repeated Kyiv’s call for weapons.

Baerbock pledged continued “deliveries of weapons, and with humanitarian and financial support”.

Over recent weeks Germany has sent an array of arms to Kyiv, supplementing other Western-supplied weapons that observers say have hurt Russia’s supply and command abilities.

Baerbock’s visit follows one by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during which he promised a nearly $3 billion military package for Ukraine.

Shmyhal on Saturday also criticised a “passive attitude” by the International Monetary Fund towards Ukraine’s request for aid to help its economy, which has been badly hit by the Russian invasion.

He spoke at the Yalta forum, where Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also said India had “benefited from our sacrifices” because of Western sanctions on Russian oil.

India has the chance to buy Russian oil at “a very low price” because “someone dies in Ukraine and someone in Europe applies sanctions”, Kuleba said

However, Russian forces were still inflicting serious damage with a campaign of shelling in Kharkiv city and the industrial region of Donbas in the east.

Russian shelling on Saturday on Kharkiv city’s Kholodnogirskiy district had left at least one person dead and two injured, the head of the region, Oleg Synegubov, said. 

Earlier, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region, which is part of Donbas, said Russian shelling had left two dead.

Concerns have also been rising in recent days over fresh shelling near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the south of the country.

Britain’s new King Charles III is a committed environmentalist with a long history of campaigning for better conservation, organic farming and tackling climate change, which is likely to sit well with more eco-conscious younger Britons. 

Interspersed between photos of official meetings and other royal duties, his Instagram account as Prince of Wales typically featured pictures showing him furthering environmental causes in Britain and beyond.

They included planting trees, showing off organic fruit and vegetables from his Clarence House residence and colourful flowers growing in the garden at his beloved Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, western England.

One photo even captured Charles — who has now passed the prince of Wales title to his son and heir William — on a visit to threatened mangrove swamps in St Vincent and Grenadines in the Caribbean.

When Britain hosted the COP26 climate summit in Scotland last year, he gave the opening speech, urging world leaders seated in front of him to redouble their efforts to confront global warming and warning: “Time has quite literally run out.”

Since his first big public speech on the subject in 1970, Charles has “been raising awareness about all aspects of the environment for a very long time,” said Bob Ward, of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

“In many ways he has been ahead of the public awareness and political awareness” on the issue, he told AFP.

– Sustainability –

At Highgrove, Charles has cultivated a garden, which is open to the public, as well as a fully organic farm. 

It initially left some neighbouring farmers sceptical, but has gradually become a successful business and sells its produce under the “Duchy Organic” brand in the high-end supermarket chain Waitrose. 

“His Royal Highness has taken many steps personally to live in a more sustainable way,” his official website for his tenure as prince of Wales said.

It noted about 90 percent of energy for office and domestic use now came from renewable sources, with around half that generated from on-site renewable sources such as solar panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps and the remainder from electricity and gas purchased from renewable sources.

For several years Charles has published his annual carbon footprint — including unofficial travel — which amounted to 445 tonnes in the year to March 2022. 

His car, an Aston Martin owned for over 50 years, has been modified to run on surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese-making process. 

It runs on a mixture of 85 percent bioethanol, and 15 percent unleaded petrol. 

The monarch has been president of the WWF-UK animal charity since 2011, emulating his late father Prince Philip, who performed the same role from 1981 to 1996.

He is also the patron of several other associations, such as “Surfers Against Sewage”, and made numerous speeches warning of the disappearance of biodiversity.

More recently, in April, he wrote an article for Newsweek magazine — and also graced its cover — headlined “our children are judging us”. 

– Sensitive –

His vocal stances on issues including the environment have prompted some criticism that he is departing from constitutional norms which see the royal family remain politically neutral at all times. 

Charles has repeatedly vowed to remain true to constitutional practices, as recently as this week when he ascended to the throne.

But he may not see environmental and conservation causes as overtly political. 

“He would be very sensitive as a head of state,” predicted Ward. 

“He must be very careful about being seen to act in a way that might be seen as putting pressure on the government. But I don’t expect him not to speak at all.”

Ruby Wright, a 42-year-old illustrator who came to Buckingham Palace to pay her respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, said on Friday that she hopes “he sticks to his guns”. 

“I think he needs to be more modest and really push the environmental agenda and make that his legacy,” she told AFP. 

“I know he’s not allowed to be political at all but this isn’t politics. This is the future of humanity.”

Laura Beirne, a 30-year-old fashion designer, agreed. “I think it’s positive he supports the environment. That’s important, I think, for my generation.”

As king, he will have less time for his passions of gardening and farming. He admitted in an interview in 1986 that he talked to plants, attracting some mockery. 

But the baton has already been passed to his son William, who shares his commitment to the environment.

Last year William created the Earthshot prize, which rewards projects that propose solutions to the climate crisis. 

Nearly a year after a defeat in parliamentary elections, the Canadian Conservatives elected a new leader on Saturday, choosing right-wing Pierre Poilievre to lead the opposition to premier Justin Trudeau.

Poilievre won 68 percent of about 400,000 votes cast by party members in the first round, putting him well ahead of his main competitor, centrist former Quebec premier Jean Charest, with 16.07 percent.

Poilievre, 43, beat out five contenders for the top Tory job by railing against inflation and Covid-19 vaccine mandates, promoting cryptocurrencies and pipelines, as well as backing the trucker-led protest convoy that occupied the capital Ottawa in February.

“Tonight begins the journey to replace an old government that costs you more and delivers you less with a new government that puts you first,” Poilievre said in a speech in Ottawa after his win.

“By tackling Liberal inflation, we’ll put you back in control of your life and your money,” he said, hitting out at Trudeau’s government as “the most expensive” in the country’s history. 

Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on his win on Twitter, calling for collaboration “to deliver results for people across the country.” 

A veteran politician, Poilievre twice served as a junior minister before Trudeau took office and has been elected seven times to represent a suburban district of Ottawa.

He takes over as party leader from an interim head who has held the post since Erin O’Toole was ousted in February following criticism that he had shifted the party too close to the political center.

In September 2021 elections, the Conservatives failed to take power, garnering 119 seats in the House of Commons compared to 160 for Trudeau’s Liberals. The Liberals were forced to form a new minority government, as in 2019. 

The next federal election is set for 2025.   

Will “Squid Game” make history? Or will HBO powerhouse “Succession” swipe the best drama statuette again at television’s equivalent of the Oscars?

And will Hulu break through on a wider scale?

Here are five things to know about the 74th Emmy Awards, which take place on Monday night in Los Angeles.

– Is Hollywood ready to crown K-drama? –

K-pop sensation BTS are so beloved that news of the boy band taking a break sparked a global meltdown on social media. “Parasite” broke all the rules on its path to Oscars glory in 2020. Is Hollywood now ready to honor a television series in Korean?

“Squid Game” — the blockbuster Netflix series about down-and-out people competing in children’s games to the death for money — became a global phenomenon upon its launch just about a year ago.

Now it could win the Emmy for best drama, in what would be a first for a non-English-language series. It is already a trailblazer just for earning a nomination in the category, one of 14 overall.

The series has already tasted Emmys victory, with Lee Yoo-mi taking the prize for best guest actress in a drama at the Creative Emmys, the pre-gala event at which many statuettes are awarded in minor categories.

Lee plays Ji-yeong, one of the 456 desperate competitors hoping to win cash in the brutal contest.

– Double nominations –

A host of performers are up for multiple awards on Monday, many of them in both acting and off-camera categories.

Julia Garner (“Ozark” and “Inventing Anna”) and Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria” and “The White Lotus”) are among those nominated for multiple acting roles, with Garner tipped to win the head-to-head battle for best supporting actress.

Best comedy actor nominee Bill Hader (“Barry”) is also nominated for directing, writing and producing the show about a hitman who moves to Los Angeles and gets involved in the acting scene.

Seth Rogen is nominated for best supporting actor in a limited series and for producing “Pam and Tommy” — the story of how an infamous sex tape of actress Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was made public.

– Bring on the gala –

For the first time in the era of Covid-19, the Television Academy is staging a full-throttle show at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, after a largely virtual event in 2020 and a scaled-back event at a partially outdoor venue last year.

“Saturday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson, himself a past Emmy winner, will make his debut as host. The festivities begin at 5:00 pm Monday (0000 GMT Tuesday).

The show is being held on a Monday night this year because NBC, which has the rotating network rights to air it, also airs Sunday Night Football, and the gridiron trumps Tinseltown, with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the schedule.

– Hulu has high hopes –

HBO and Netflix tend to dominate the Emmys, but 2022 could be a banner year for Hulu, which is majority-owned by Disney.

The US-only streamer, specializing in more adult-oriented content than Disney+, creates originals such as 2017 drama winner “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and has been ramping up production.

This year, it has a handful of top contenders in the limited series categories.

Michael Keaton is the frontrunner for best actor in a limited series for playing a doctor embroiled in the US opioid epidemic in “Dopesick,” which raked in 14 nominations.

Amanda Seyfried is the frontrunner for best actress glory in the same section for her turn as disgraced biotech star Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout.”

“Pam and Tommy” has 10 nominations, and comedy “Only Murders in the Building” — starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as an unlikely trio of true-crime podcasters — is also in the mix.

– Posthumous pre-gala Emmy for Boseman –

“Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman died in August 2020 after battling colon cancer — a diagnosis he never publicly discussed.

Last year, he narrowly missed out to Anthony Hopkins on a posthumous Oscar, for best actor in blues drama “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” 

But he earned some final awards glory at the Creative Emmys, winning for voicing a version of his “Black Panther” character in Marvel’s animated series “What If…?”

Other winners at the pre-gala event were former US president Barack Obama (now halfway to an EGOT with his two Grammys), pop star Adele, rapper Eminem and reality show host RuPaul.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse and St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will rest in the coming days, are both steeped in royal history — and anti-English sentiment.

Since the queen’s death aged 96 on Thursday, her body has remained at her Balmoral estate in northeast Scotland while her eldest son travelled to London to be formally proclaimed King Charles III.

On Sunday, the coffin will be taken by road to the 500-year-old Holyroodhouse palace, set against the dramatic backdrop of Arthur’s Seat, an ancient volcano that dominates Edinburgh’s sweeping Holyrood Park.

The palace has been used by Scottish and English monarchs for centuries, since James IV began construction on the site of the Holyrood (“holy cross”) abbey.

According to legend, the abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I after he saw a vision of a stag with a glowing cross between its antlers, which he took as a sign from God.

One of the palace’s most notable residents was Mary Queen of Scots. It was in her private apartments there that, in 1566, she witnessed the brutal murder of her secretary instigated by her jealous husband.

In 1633, Holyroodhouse was the site of the Scottish coronation of King Charles I, whose reign led to a civil war in which he was executed, and the palace was damaged and abandoned.

After a brief republic, his son returned as King Charles II in 1660 and renovated the palace.

Elizabeth was a regular visitor during her reign, holding an annual garden party attended by around 8,000 people, and in 2010 she received Pope Benedict XVI there during his UK visit.

– Protestant roots –

On Monday, the new king will accompany his mother’s coffin in procession along the Royal Mile to the magnificent St Giles’ Cathedral, where he will also hold a vigil.

Founded around 1124 as a Catholic parish church, St Giles’ has witnessed key moments in British history.

It was at the heart of the Reformation, with Protestant theologian John Knox installed as minister there in 1559, the year before Scotland officially threw off the Catholic Church.

In 1637, a riot erupted after a local woman threw a stool at the preacher in St Giles’ in protest at Charles I’s attempts to impose English Anglican worship on Presbyterian Scotland.

And in 1707, when England and Scotland were joined by the Act of Union, legend has it that the bells of St Giles’ rang out the tune to “Why should I be so sad on my wedding day?”, reflecting the opposition among many Scots to the move.

St Giles’ also houses the Thistle Chapel, home to Scotland’s highest chivalric order, the Order of the Thistle.

Elizabeth, as head of the order, was present when Charles was installed as a member in 1977.

It was also at St Giles’ that she was symbolically presented with the Honours of Scotland — a crown, sword and sceptre — at a service of thanksgiving for her coronation in 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II’s death could help start a reconciliation between Prince Harry and wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family, after a reported rift and their relocation to the United States.

The couple, who were on a rare visit to Britain when the queen died on Thursday, reunited with Harry’s brother William and wife Kate at Windsor Castle Saturday. It was their first joint public appearance since they moved stateside in early 2020.

All dressed in mourning black, together they looked at the growing banks of flowers left by the public before greeting well-wishers as separate pairs, giving little away about the state of their relations.

But the decision by the quartet — once dubbed “the fab four” in closer times — to step out together in front of the cameras at all appeared a sign of progress in repairing badly fractured ties.

UK royal reporters said heir-to-the-throne William proposed the “olive branch” to his younger brother, who has been increasingly critical of the family since leaving frontline royal duties.

Just two days earlier it was a different story, with a tearful looking Harry, 37, arriving alone in a vehicle to the Balmoral estate where the queen had earlier died.   

William and several other close family members — but not Kate — had earlier turned up together in a single car, but also arrived too late to see the queen before she passed away.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said Thursday’s separate arrivals showed the brothers had become “estranged”.

He argued that Harry and Meghan were seen to have “done the royal family a lot of damage in recent months” with their broadsides against the monarchy.

“For the future, the ball’s in their court and it depends how they want to play,” Fitzwilliams added.

– ‘Different paths’ –

Things used to be so different.

After the princes’ mother Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, they touched the world by walking behind her coffin at her funeral.

William was 15 while Harry was just 12.

They appeared to share a close bond as adults, uninterrupted by William marrying long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton in 2011 and starting a family.

But relations soured following former British Army captain Harry’s 2018 marriage to Meghan — a mixed-race American television actress — at Windsor in 2018.

He said in a 2019 interview that he and his brother were “on different paths”. A year later, Harry and Meghan sensationally announced their move to the US.

The couple’s subsequent explosive Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2021 saw Meghan publicly claim Kate had made her cry.

The most damaging claim, however, was that an unnamed royal had speculated about the skin colour of mixed-race Meghan’s future child.

William reacted later by telling a journalist that the royals were “very much not” a racist family.

Relations between the brothers were visibly frosty when they reunited last year to unveil a statue to their mother.

They did not meet during the queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.

More recently, Meghan told The Cut magazine in a lengthy interview that she now felt “free” to tell her own story, which some saw as a veiled threat to the monarchy.

– ‘Unpredictable’ –

However, since the queen’s death there have been tentative signs of a possible softening in the estrangement.

Despite Harry claiming to Winfrey that his brother and father were “trapped” in the monarchy, Charles appeared open to reconciling with his self-exiled son in his first speech as Britain’s new king, notably expressing “love” for him and Meghan.

“He’s offering an olive branch, but he’s offering (it) with great great care because he knows they’re unpredictable,” said Fitzwilliams.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are popular with young people, but could be taking a big risk openly criticising the monarchy, he added, especially at a time of national mourning and in its aftermath. 

“There’s no doubt that the Sussexes will draw a lot of attention right now,” noted Fitzwilliams, with British public opinion already firmly on the rest of the family’s side.

Saturday’s joint appearance with William and Kate, who this week became the prince and princess of Wales following Charles’ ascension to the throne, may herald a new chapter for family relations.

But with Harry anticipated to release his likely controversial memoirs by the end of the year, things could also easily regress.

“Obviously they will attend the funeral. More than that, it’s impossible to say,” said Fitzwilliams.

“If in Harry’s memoir he has stopped being critical, that’s different.”