Swedish Far-Right Cleanup Leaves Opposition Alliance Unimpressed
Swedish Far-Right Cleanup Leaves Opposition Alliance Unimpressed
(Bloomberg) -- The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats may have shunned some of its more extreme members, but the party with neo-Nazi roots is still far from being welcomed by the establishment.
While SD is poised to become a kingmaker in September’s election, potentially winning close to 20 percent, interviews with the center-right opposition leaders on Tuesday revealed the group will still need to make a cleaner break with its past to be welcomed as an ally.
The party has been working to shed its most extreme members and soften its language since winning 13 percent in 2014. A new party, Alternative for Sweden, has now been formed by some of those who were excluded, which could further polish SD’s image, according to Ann-Catherine Jungar, an associate professor at Sodertorn University, who specializes on the far-right in the Nordic countries.
But the parties in the four-party Alliance opposition bloc are skeptical to the notion that SD’s leadership has distanced itself from its history. According to Jan Bjorklund, the Liberal party leader, collaboration won’t happen during the foreseeable future. Center party leader Annie Loof bristled at working with a group whose party secretary has likened Islam to a Trojan Horse in the West.
“These racist views among Sweden Democrats is something that goes all the way up to the party leadership,” she said. “That’s why none of the Alliance leaders can imagine negotiating or collaborating with the Sweden Democrats.”
Ebba Busch Thor, party leader for the Christian Democrats, said she doesn’t see any change in the basic values among SD’s leadership.
“It’s up to the Sweden Democrats to make that change and really break with their past,” she said. “Until then, they are welcome to vote for our politics if they think it’s good.”
Neither of the two major blocs get a majority in the polls ahead of the election in September, so whoever wants to form a government will need to reach out to the other side or hope for support from the Sweden Democrats. But Jimmie Akesson, party leader for the Sweden Democrats, has made clear that even though he’s prepared to oust the current government, his support for the Alliance won’t be unconditional.
The largest opposition group, the Moderate Party, has had contacts with SD in some committees in parliament, but party leader Ulf Kristersson declines answering on how his party will act after the election or whether SD’s exclusions have made collaboration more likely than before.
“I won’t say what other parties need to do,” he said. “I’ll focus on our policies, voters will vote, and then we’ll do the best we can after the election.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Billner in Stockholm at abillner@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net.
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