Swedish Election Means Changes Ahead

It has been 10 days since the Swedish election ended with the rightist party’s victory, which attracted the interests of the globe. The excitement of the election did not exist in Stockholm on September 28. Not a single tattered poster was seen, maybe because the culture of covering up the poster of the winner is foreign to Sweden. The inauguration of the new administration is only eight days away, but the streets were too calm to be a place where the long-standing leftist stronghold crumbled. Yet that was just the first impression. On the street, in the office, whenever I bring up the election result, the Swedish people talk long about it without hesitance. They have opposing opinions of welcome and concerns.

The more people I talk to, the better I could understand that they have mixed feeling of anxiousness and hope, thinking, “A significant change is waiting for us.” A closer look reveals that society as a whole is a bit upbeat.

Sweden has long been known to be a country where everyone leads a comfortable life thanks to the long-established welfare system. The very voters who enjoyed the benefits of the welfare system chose the rightist party. Many would wonder why they made such a decision.

People mainly pointed the finger at the high unemployment rate. More particularly, the high unemployment rate of 20 percent among young adults was the problem. If not for the soaring unemployment rate, any administration can manage to deal with the problem in its own way. Yet people noted that high unemployment rate resulted from the negative aspect of the Swedish welfare system, which is a large burden on the people.

A businessman who runs a software development company said, “I cannot help but think twice when hiring an employee even though I need more laborers.” The tax burden that an employer should bear is never light.

There are more aspects that reveal the weakness of the Swedish welfare system. Hospitals are a clear proof. More than 90 percent of hospitals are run by the state. From the treatment of a slight cold to cancer surgery, every treatment is free, yet patients have to wait at least one month to get treatment. Who would choose the free hospitals?

Song Kyu-jin (45), a Korean-Swedish who runs a trading business, said, “Half jokingly, people say patients die while waiting for surgery.” Song bought private insurance policy, believing he could not rely on the state at least on the medical front.

Since he has bought private insurance policy, he can go to a nice hospital located near a park in Stockholm. In recent years, private insurance policy has become popular among the upper middle class people who use this hospital.

In Sweden, people say, “The jobless and sick people are leading the most comfortable lives. Swedish people were born without money and die after paying taxes all their lives.”

gold@donga.com