Sweden's Justice Min narrowly escapes no-confidence motion as country jockeys for NATO bid

As the country struggles to secure membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to mitigate external security threats, Sweden's ruling party's lawmaker on Tuesday narrowly escaped a no-confidence vote in a ballot aimed to topple Swedish PM Magdalena Andersson's administration. Stockholm's Justice Minister Morgan Johansson scored 97 votes in favour, 70 abstentions, and 8 absentees from the 174 seats in the 349 seating Parliament. The total vote was one short of the required number.

Swedish PM, leader of Social Democrat, had vowed to resign in case the Johansson faced the no-confidence motion over surging crime in the country. Just to note, the general elections in Sweden are scheduled for September 11, 2022.

The no-confidence vote was called for by the populist Swedish Democrats, who claimed that Johansson has "allowed Sweden to become a gangster country," the Associated Press quoted. The allegations came as the Nordic country is suffering from a wave of organised crimes, including a massive spike in gun violence in the capital city, Goteborg and Malmo.

Key move by Kurdish lawmaker saves Johansson

In massive turntables, independent Kurdish Iran-born lawmaker, Amineh Kakabaveh, too abstained from voting on Tuesday. Ahead of Tuesday's vote, Kakabaveh said, "I know that Morgan Johansson is a politician who cares about the rule of law. I do not trust the opposition. She also stressed that Johansson succeeded in fighting violence against women and honour killings among many other crimes.

According to AP, the move could be considered a "red flag" as Turkey is already distraught with Sweden over the issue of the Kurdish community.

For the unversed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made it sparkingly clear that he would use a blocking vote to stop Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, accusing them of backing Kurdish "militant groups" that have waged long and bloody insurrection against Turkey- a claim that Stockholm denies. Ankara has sought a mutually fruitful resolution of the issue in order to secure the addition of the two Nordic nations to the bloc. For the uninitiated, in early May Sweden and Finland scrapped their age-old military neutrality and forwarded their applications for membership to NATO in the wake of growing Russian threats amid the war in Ukraine.

Kakabaveh had also voted for Andersson to become Sweden's first female Prime Minister, despite being a minority seat holder in the parliament. Meanwhile, the Turkish mission to Sweden has accused Sweden lawmakers of nurturing ties with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Speaking to Swedish network TT, Ankara's envoy to Stockholm, Hakki Emre Yunt, had said that "I can mention Amineh Kakabaveh since she had an agreement with Social Democrats to support them."

(Image: AP)