A populist and mostly right-wing wave is washing up over the Nordic countries. They have brought anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that were unthinkable just a few years ago.
This trend has had political consequences for traditional politics in the Nordic region. However, despite their rapid rise, most nationalist and populist parties still lack voter support on election day.

This, however, does not hold true for Finland’s anti-immigrant and EU-critical True Finns, who took nearly one fifth of the votes in Finland’s general election on April 17th. The True Finns finished just behind the conservative National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats on around 19%, winning 39 seats in the 200-seat parliament; a result that seems to guarantee a place in government.

This rise in popularity is said to be a consequence of the present EU-politics, especially the EU-bailouts including the planned Portuguese rescue, unclear immigration policies, messy financing of electoral campaigns, and last but not least, the ‘amorous’ scandals indulged in by the former Prime Minister.

One contributing factor to the success of the True Finns is their charismatic leader; a 48-year-old, thickset, Master of Social Sciences holder, who is jovial, funny and a good speaker.

It remains to be seen if the other members of the party are as wise as their popular leader – the blogs of some of them being a bit scary in their extremism.

A few years ago, the nationalist anti-immigration party of Sweden, The Sweden Democrats, was a small and unknown party. But it soon started making provocative, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim, and even anti-Sami statements, gaining significant support, especially in areas with high unemployment.

In the general election of 2010, the Sweden Democrats for the first time crossed the four-percent threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. The party polled 5.7% and won 20 parliamentary seats, but the members are kept isolated by all parties in the Swedish parliament. Sweden Democrats’ rise to fame has been considered as being nothing else but Xenophobic and Islamophobic, and the party’s popularity seems to be declining. The success of the True Finns in Finland might, however, act as a boost to the their popularity.

In Norway, the populist, right-wing wave seems to have ebbed out. Following the controversy with the caricature drawings of Mohammed a few years ago, some political parties were accused of being soft on Muslim fundamentalists for supporting a close dialogue with the Muslim immigrant community. Consequently, the parties took on a stricter tone in the immigrant debates.

In Denmark, on the other hand, critics say that the far-right party has won the anti-immigration debate. Danish politics has changed dramatically over the past decade and supporters of the change argue that it was needed, while critics say the change has been a submission to populism.

Also in Iceland there has been a rise in the population’s mistrust of the EU, as well as the International Monetary Fund, which is closely cooperating with the Icelandic authorities on the country’s economic recovery. However, compared to the rest of the Nordic countries, the picture is somewhat different in Iceland when it comes to populist politicians. The people have been so disillusioned with their traditional politicians following the country’s economic collapse that the Icelandic people turned to a popular comedian, Jón Gnarr, when they went to the ballot box in May.

It remains to be seen how the huge victory of the populist True Finns will affect the politics in the rest of the Nordic countries and even in other European countries.