Swedish feminist party tipped for first EU Parliament seat

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'The Feminist Initiative (FI), a Swedish party, may win its first seat in the European Parliament, according to the latest opinion polls published in the national press.

FI is currently polling at 4.3% of votes in Sweden, just above the 4% threshold required to win one of the country's 20 seats in the parliament. In 2009, the party got 2.2% of votes.

"This is an incredible development when the party got less than 1% of the votes in the last general election," said Drude Dahlerup, a professor of political science with a focus on gender at Stockholm University. The party doesn't have loyal voters but its approval ratings are lifted by its charismatic party leader Gudrun Schyman, Dahlerup told TV-station SVT.

But she added some voters might be disappointed when they realise that Schyman is not on the party's list of candidates for the election.

The feminist party, founded in 2006, has staged controversial political "happenings" in the past, like in July 2010 when it burned 100,000 Swedish crowns (€11,089) in protest against the gender pay gap. Schyman also attracted attention in 2004 when she proposed to introduce what the media dubbed as a "man tax" to collectively punish males for violence against women.

Schyman is a former leader of the Left Party in Sweden, suggesting the FI is most likely to join the European United Left–Nordic Green Left parliamentary group if it wins a seat.'