SWEDEN: A Vote for Instability

Palme's last hurrah?

After nearly a half-century of solid government, the placid, proudly enlightened Swedes are about as eager for political instability as they are for, well, chaperoned dating. Last week, however, the country was preparing for a long winter of insecure government, following an election that reconfirmed the nonsocialist parliamentary majority by a single seat and that may have ended the career of Sweden's most dynamic politician, former Social Democratic Premier Olof Palme.

The election was so close it took three days of counting the 5,322,688 votes to determine who had won. Finally, on the strength of mailed-in ballots, a grouping...

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