Murder may skew Sweden's euro poll

THE murder of Sweden's popular Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh, could trigger a huge sympathy vote for the euro and has thrown into the balance the country's seemingly certain rejection of the single currency at this weekend's poll.

Swedes, who will vote on Sunday in a referendum on the currency, are mourning pro-euro politician Lindh, who fell victim to a knife attacker while out shopping in Stockholm. Stabbed repeatedly in the arms, chest and stomach, Lindh suffered internal bleeding and liver injuries and died on Thursday after 10 hours of surgery. Her killer is still at large.

Before Lindh's murder, a raft of polls showed the grassroots campaign against the European Union single currency extending its commanding lead over a Yes side dominated by the wealthy Nordic country's business and political elite.

According to the polls, about 53% of those expressing a preference were against discarding the Swedish krona in favour of the unified currency.

However, her death looks certain to result in a much closer contest than previously thought, as it triggers a huge swing in the intentions of the 21% of Swedes who said they were still undecided about which way they would vote.

Pollsters say most of the Don't Knows were women, and the No camp fears Lindh's death will galvanise this potentially crucial voting block to back the adoption of the euro as a posthumous tribute to the politician.

No vote campaigner Kristin Johansson said: 'The predictions were for a low turnout and now we think that will change. Many, many women are now expected to turn out and, of course, we welcome and applaud their participation in the democratic process. All we ask is that logic is applied to the vote and that it doesn't become some polling-booth tribute to a woman who, even though we disagreed with her, was a fine Swede and a fine person. There are other places for tributes.'

If Sweden votes No, it will have an enormous impact on the British fight to keep the pound, almost certainly wiping out any chance of a referendum in Britain during the life of this Parliament and possibly the next one.

But a Yes vote - whatever the skewed reasons behind it - could embolden Tony Blair, despite present woes, to put some real steam into a fresh campaign to sell the euro to a sceptical public.

Spread betting group Cantor Index had set the No vote as coming in at between 51% and 54% on Wednesday but suspended further predictions as a 'mark of respect' for Lindh.