In Europe it is hard to find two more solid democracies and flourishing economies than Sweden and Germany. Yet the strong performances of radical right protest parties in elections on Sunday show that even these models of prosperity and efficient government are infected with a virus that spreads over the entire continent.
Neither the Sweden Democrats, with 12.9 per cent of the vote in national legislative elections, nor Alternative for Germany (AfD), with 12.2 per cent and 10.6 per cent respectively in elections to the state parliaments of Brandenburg and Thuringia, came anywhere near outright victory. But their share of the vote shot up, demonstrating that few, if any, mainstream European conservative parties can assume themselves to be immune to the threat from unconventional movements on their right flank.
Less than two weeks ago, an opinion poll suggested that Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s National Front, would win the second round of the country’s 2017 presidential election against François Hollande. In Britain, the United Kingdom independence party, which, like the National Front topped the national polls in May’s European Parliament elections, is set to defeat the ruling Tories next month in a by-election in Clacton, southeast England.