Stefan Lofven becomes the first Swedish PM to lose a no-confidence vote
But the Social Democrat will get a last chance to fend off the “bourgeois bloc”
HOUSING IS A sensitive political issue everywhere, but in Sweden it is especially touchy. Over two-thirds of the country’s municipalities say they have housing shortages. Authorities estimated the total shortfall at 160,000 units in 2018, in a country with 5m dwellings. The price of a villa in Stockholm has risen 19% in the past year. All the country’s rental units, whether public or private, are subject to rent control, making everyone’s rent a matter of government policy.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The nine lives of Lofven”
From the June 26th 2021 edition
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