Minister's murder casts shadow as Swedes vote on euro

Swedes were today voting on whether to adopt the euro after a shadow was cast over the referendum by the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

The attack on Lindh, which police said did not appear politically motivated, came on Wednesday in the final stages of campaigning, as she and other euro supporters stepped up efforts to convince voters that Sweden should join the common currency used by 12 European countries.

“Election day is usually a festival day and it feels terrible that a killer can change this,” Liberal Party leader Lars Leijonbord said.

The effect of Lindh’s death on the voting was split, but analysts believed her stabbing might generate a wave of sympathy votes and possibly give pro-euro supporters a narrow victory.

“Anna Lindh was a key figure. She was the one on the ‘yes’ side who was supposed to swing Social Democratic voters and women voters over to their side - voters who were undecided,” said political analyst Mats Carlbom said. “Now maybe that’s just what she will do – but after her death.”

Lena Axelsen, 55, said she voted for the euro, but for economic, not emotional reasons.

“We do not have the economic strength like Norway does to be able to care about nothing,” she said.

More than seven million Swedes were eligible to vote in the referendum, and election officials said the number of people who voted by mail would probably reach one million.

Lindh was stabbed repeatedly by an unknown assailant as she shopped in a Stockholm department store. She died early Thursday after hours of surgery.

Polls released on Saturday were split, with one showing euro supporters ahead by 6 percentage points, and another with the “no” side in the lead.

Gallup found 43% of those polled favoured adopting the euro while 42% were opposed and 15% undecided. Supporters gained 8 percentage points from a Gallup poll conducted before the murder, while the “no” camp lost 8 percentage points.

In a survey by the Temo polling agency, euro opponents were ahead 46% to 40%, while 14% were undecided. Both surveys polled 1,000 people and had a 3% margin of error.

Many Swedes have argued that adopting the euro would put their cradle-to-grave welfare state too much under the control of the rest of Europe, with its economic and sometimes political turmoil.

A Swedish ‘no’ to the euro would be a blow to the common currency and European integration and a boost to euro opponents in Britain and Denmark, the other European Union members that have stayed out of the euro.

Euro supporters, led in Sweden by Prime Minister Goeran Persson, a Social Democrat, say a ‘no’ vote would leave the Scandinavian country of nine million without a voice when important economic decisions are taken in the EU.

They predict that adopting the euro would spur Sweden’s economy by facilitating trade with the euro-zone. They also warn a small currency like the krona is more vulnerable to currency speculation than the euro, the world’s second largest currency behind the dollar.

Opponents say the euro is a risky project and worry that handing over monetary policy to the Frankfurt, Germany-based European Central Bank will hurt Sweden’s economy.

“I believe that we are too small a country to have any influence among the big ones,” said pensioner Birgit Soederlund, 77. “We’ll be sitting in the laps of the big men.”

The ‘yes’ campaign was more visible on the streets, buying up billboards on buses, phone booths and the subways, helped in part by a war chest funded by big business, and support from most political parties and newspaper editorial pages. Despite the supplies, euro proponents struggled to convince voters how they would benefit from the euro.

Opponents gained strength from recent economic data showing higher growth and lower unemployment in Sweden than the euro-zone average. They pointed to high unemployment rates in some euro zone countries, compared to Sweden’s relatively stable 5%.

“It’s important that we be able to retain our monetary policy,” said metalworker Klass-Goeran Jakobsson, 57.