Daily Times

Sweden’s government on Tuesday averted a political crisis, after it clinched a last-minute deal to ensure its justice minister survived a no-confidence vote in parliament.

The deal stems from winning the support of an independent lawmaker who is determined that Stockholm does not cave into Turkish conditions for supporting Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

The potential crisis came just three months ahead of general elections and less than a year after the Social Democratic government was toppled and then returned to power within weeks.

The no-confidence vote held on Tuesday was launched by the far-right Sweden Democrats who accuse Justice Minister Morgan Johansson of failing to stem rising gang violence. Sweden has struggled to reduce the shootings and bombings that have plagued the country in recent years, usually due to gangland rivalries or organised criminals battling over the drug market.

“We have reached a point where the single most important crime policy measure is to give Morgan Johansson an early retirement,” Sweden Democrat MP Henrik Vinge told parliament last week.

Supported by the conservative Moderate Party, the Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats, 174 of 349 MPs voted for the motion, one short of the absolute majority needed to oust the minister. Of the remaining, 97 voted against, 70 abstained and eight were absent.

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who became Sweden’s first woman premier when she took over the reins in November, had said she would resign if a no-confidence vote passed against Johansson, saying all government decisions were made collectively.