(CNN) Polls have opened in Sweden's general election Sunday in one of the tightest contests the Scandinavian country has seen for decades as voters split over attitudes to immigration. The far-right is expected to make substantial gains after a heated campaign dominated by the immigration issue, with most opinion polls showing that no single party is expected to win the vote outright. Once a nation that welcomed refugees in high numbers, immigration has become a hot-button issue in Swedish politics following the mass migration of refugees to Europe in 2015, at the height of the Syrian war, when Sweden took in more than 160,000 asylum-seekers. The far-right Sweden Democrats, which have roots in the neo-Nazi movement, have capitalized on tensions that have arisen since the influx of refugees and have already seen a dramatic rise in support, polls show. Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson campaigns in Stockholm in Saturday.

Source: CNN September 09, 2018 04:06 UTC