Immigrants breathe a sigh of relief: "Sweden would stop without us"

Immigrants in Sweden were relieved today to see the Sweden Democrats' first defeat in parliamentary elections, after years of their rise that has shifted Swedish politics sharply to the right when it comes to immigration.

After a close election night on Sunday, the center-left bloc is on track to win a narrow majority in parliament. The Sweden Democrats lost more seats than any other party and were projected to win 17,6 percent of the vote, three percentage points less than four years ago, according to Reuters.

In Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm with a large immigrant population, the center-left bloc won 94 percent of the vote. One resident, Kahin Ahmed, a 59-year-old sociologist of Somali origin, welcomed the outcome.

"It's a huge relief," he told Reuters. "I think people in the suburbs turned out in large numbers because they were afraid that the Sweden Democrats might make things worse."

The Sweden Democrats, who have supported a minority right-wing government in parliament for the past four years, although they were not part of the cabinet, campaigned on issues including returning more immigrants to their countries of origin and ending multiculturalism. Among their proposals was a ban on traditional Islamic clothing for women in public places.

Sweden Democrats leaders blamed the defeat on tactical voting in favor of other right-wing parties and said voters punished their party for supporting the government for four years.

"It's always been a risk," Richard Jomshof, a lawmaker for the Sweden Democrats, told Reuters. "That's part of what it means to be a bigger and more established party. It hurts like hell, but it's simply a reality that we can lose votes too," he said.

Silvia Kakembo, founder of the Integration Bureau, a non-partisan organization that advocates for integration, said the Sweden Democrats had gone too far in their efforts to expel immigrants and with a proposal to revoke already granted residence permits, which contributed to mobilizing some voters against them.

"I interpret that as a sign that many people considered this election very important, perhaps even crucial," she said.

The Sweden Democrats have enjoyed steady growth for decades, first entering parliament in 2010 at a time when voters were growing discontent with the rapid increase in immigration. Some 25 million people have immigrated to Sweden in the past 2,5 years.

In another part of the city, in the suburb of Sjöholmen, 59-year-old Celil Tamturk, originally from Turkey, said he was very satisfied with the election results so far and that he was put off by the Sweden Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson's statements about Islam and immigrants.

"If there were no immigrants here and they just didn't work for two days, what would happen? In schools, healthcare, the subway - immigrants are everywhere," he said.

"Sweden would stop immediately."

The center-left parties supporting Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson are projected to win 176 seats in the 349-member parliament, while Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's bloc is expected to win 173 seats, the election commission said.

Rau Amen (70), who came from Iraq 44 years ago, said he fears that the Sweden Democrats are trying to create divisions in the country on the principle of "us against them."

"That's the last thing I want. Sweden has been great so far and I love this country. I want things to be the way they used to be," he said.