Sverigedemokraterna Box 20085 104 60 Stockholm Sweden
PRESENTATION OF THE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS CENTRAL POLITICAL ISSUES The Sweden Democrats were founded in 1988 and is a social-conservative party with a nationalistic core view, with a strong support for the basic elements in the Swedish welfare system. The current chairman of the party, Jimmie Åkesson, was elected in 2005. The main objectives of the Sweden Democrats are to: X
A more responsible immigration policy. We want to reduce immigration and invest more resources on helping refugees in their own countries or neighbouring areas. We also want to counter the fragmentation of the Swedish society by promoting assimilation instead of the current multiculturalist policies.
X
Strengthen traditional values, Christian ethics and the nuclear family.
X
Free trade and lower taxes on labour.
X
Enhance economic growth through free trade, lower taxation on labour and increased support to small companies in form of lower taxation and simplified rules.
X
Improve the condition for the elderly citizens through increased resources for the care of the elderly and increased pensions for the poorest elders.
X
Improve the conditions for people working in public healthcare and their patients by offering all staff fulltime jobs and good working conditions.
X
Restore the sense of security and law and order through harder sentences for criminals and increased resources and powers to the police and the border control.
X
Restore Sweden’s sovereignty and independence through exiting the EU and replacing it with free trade and bilateral cooperation
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RESULTS FROM PUBLIC ELECTIONS In every election since 1988 the Sweden Democrats have increased their share of the Swedish votes. The growth during the early years was slow but now seems to accelerate thanks to a more competent leadership and a changing image. Elections to the national parliament (Riksdagen) 1998: Number of votes: 19 624 Percentage: 0,4 % 2002: Number of votes: 76 300 Percentage: 1,44 % 2006: Number of votes: 162 463 Percentage: 2,93 % 2010: Number of votes: 339 610 Percentage: 5,70 % (entered the national parliament, won 20 seats) (Next election to be held in September 2014) Elections to the regional parliaments (Landstingen, 20 regions in total) 1988- 2002: 0 seats 2006: 16 seats in 3 different regions. 2010: 68 seats in 15 different regions. (Next election to be held in September 2014)
Elections to the local municipalities (Kommunerna, 290 in total) 1998: 8 seats in 5 municipalities 2002: 50 seats in 30 municipalities 2006: 282 seats in 145 municipalities 2010: 612 seats in 246 municipalities (Next election to be held in September 2014)
Elections to the European parliament 1999: Number of votes: 8 569 Percentage: 0,33 % 2004: Number of votes: 28 303 Percentage: 1,13 % 2009: Number of votes: 103 584 Percentage: 3,27 % 2014: Number of votes: 359 258 Percentage: 9,67% (2 seats) Elections to the National assembly of the Swedish Protestant Church 2005: 4 seats 2009: 7 seats 2013: 15 seats (Next election to be held in 2018)
Besides this, in our special youth election (Ungt val) organised prior to the general elections in 2010, the Sweden Democrats gained 13,0 percent of the votes and established itself as the third largest party among young people in Sweden.
STANDING IN THE POLLS TODAY Opinion polls after the last election have shown that the support for the Sweden Democrats has increased and the party is polling as Sweden’s third largest with about 10-15 percent of the votes.
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COOPERATION AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER PARTIES The Sweden Democrats have never been a formal member of any international political group and does not have any formal ties or cooperation to other parties or organizations. The Sweden Democrats have informal contacts with the Danish Peoples Party. We exchange information and leading representatives of DPP have on several occasions made public speeches on party events in Sweden arranged by the Sweden Democrats. In our view the Danish Peoples Party is the European party that resembles the Sweden Democrats the most in political terms. The only main differences between the policies of the parties, as we see it, is that the Danish Peoples Party has some more far-reaching suggestions concerning immigrants and immigration and that the Sweden Democrats have a more conservative stand in some issues concerning the nuclear family and traditional values. In addition to that, our international secretary have developed informal contacts with EU-sceptic parties in the EU. However, the Sweden Democrats are not a part of any group, EU-party or likewise.
IS THE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS AN “XENOPHOBIC, “EXTREME RIGHT”-PARTY? As most other parties in Europe who want to restrict mass-immigration, the Sweden Democrats have often been accused by our political opponents and left-wing media for being “extreme”, “xenophobic” and “racist”. Is there any truth to these accusations? As in most cases the truth lies in the eye of the beholder, but below we list some relevant information on the matter: The following can be read in our Statement of Principles: “Every human being have a basic and sacrosanct value and the right to freedom, independence, safety and community” “We oppose all movements and ideas that rests on anti-democratic basis and defends all individuals' basic human dignity and the right of all peoples to independence and democratic development. “We confess ourselves to the classical definition of democracy, where the concept of democracy is not made synonymous with the own political views, but primarily rests on the principles that decisions should be taken by majority vote, on equality before the law and universal suffrage for citizens to prevail, on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and legal security” “Our version of nationalism is open and universal in the sense that we fight for the freedom and rights of all nations in the world, not only our own.” “Our version of nationalism is open and non-racist. We define membership of our nation in terms of culture, language, identity and lojalty, not in terms of personal history, genes or skin colour. Hence our national community is open for people of foreign decent.”
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“The Sweden Democrats does not oppose immigration, but strongly argues that immigration should not be allowed to reach such an extent that it poses a threat to our national identity, our well fare-system or our national security.” “Sweden’s policy regarding aid to refugees should primarily be concentrated on helping refugees in their immediate area. In this way we can reach the refugees that suffer the most, we can help more people for the same amount of many as we are currently spending on mass-immigration to Sweden” “We strive to combine the best elements of the political right and the political left”
LEADING UNAFFILIATED AUTHORITIES AND EXPERTS DENOUNCE THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS: “I do not characterize the Sweden Democrats as a racist party. You have to take the party's ideology and politics seriously. SD wants to reduce immigration sharply but not eliminate it entirely. The immigrants who come to Sweden to be assimilated. They should learn the language, the culture, acquire Swedish values and customs. This is a policy that rests on a view of humanity that is actually the antithesis of racism. It takes as a starting that individuals can change identity. That one can be born into a culture but through active adaptation, become part of another. The goal of SD's policy of assimilation is that everyone in society should share the same national identity.” - Andreas Johansson Heinö, expert on nationalism and a well-established, liberal political scientist in Sweden
“The Sweden Democrats are not xhenophobic, not racist and not right-wing extremist” - “Helene Lööw, Doctor in History at the university of Gothenburg, leading expert on right-wing extremism and former superintendent of the government funded Swedish institute for remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust (Forum för levande historia)
1 OUT OF 5 SWEDISH DEMOCRATS ARE IMMIGRANTS. THE PARTY HAVE A HIGHER PROPORTION OF IMMIGRANT CANDIDATES THAN THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS: Before the election of 2006, public service radio (Sveriges Radio) conducted a study which showed that 16% of the Sweden Democrats candidates to the municipalities were of foreign descent. This was a higher percentage than for the Conservative party, the Christian democrats, the Agrarian party and the Social democrats. According to recent figures (from 2013) from the Office of Statistics in Sweden, there were more people of foreign descent that voted for the Sweden Democrats than for the Centre Party, the Liberal Party or the Christian Democrats. According to a survey in 2012 among the members of the Swedish Democrats 20% of the members of the Sweden Democrats are themselves of foreign descent.
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Several high ranking representatives of the Swedish Democrats are of non-Swedish ethnic descent. For example Kent Ekeroth, MP and international secretary are of Jewish descent. Paula Bieler chief editor of our party newspaper (SD-Kuriren) are of Jewish and Roma descent. Anna Hagwall, MP, are of Hungarian descent. Pavel Gamov, member of our party´s national executive, are of Russian descent etc.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE AND LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES We believe that the information above should at least strongly indicate that the Sweden Democrats are not a racist or xenophobic party and it is our firm belief that our political opponents only keep calling us these things in order to block a serious debate concerning the problem that Sweden are experiencing as a result of mass immigration and multiculturalism. However, we will not hide the fact that we have made mistakes in our past that have made it a lot easier for our opponents to put these labels on us. Most of these mistakes were made between the years of 1991 and 1994. During these years the party was temporarily radicalised due to bad leadership and the fact that the anti-immigration, populist party “Ny Demokrati” (New Democracy), was formed, reached the national parliament and drained our party of most of its more established members. The worst of these mistakes was that the party didn’t distance itself from radical youths with sub cultural looks and that these were allowed to participate in some of the party demonstrations. In 1995 New Democracy collapsed and the Sweden Democrats elected a new party leader. Since then we have been working very hard to distance ourselves from all forms of extremism, to reform the party, to learn from our mistakes and to change our image. Today the Sweden Democrats are a totally different party than it was between 1991 and 1994. Almost all members from those years have left the party or have been kicked out and all members of the national board joined the party after that period. 92% of the current members joined the party in the year of 2002 or later. There have been single incidents even in later years where individual members or representatives have been exposed with the expression of xenophobic views in private. In all cases these persons immediately have been expelled from the party. In 2012 our chairman Jimmie Åkesson reinforced the old antiracist policy in the party by sending out a letter to all members of the party encouraging all eventual remaining persons with xenophobic or extreme views to leave the party and declaring an absolute “zero tolerance” against racism. It is important to state that these single incidents does not say anything about the character of our party. The Social Democrats, The Conservative party and the Liberal party all have had similar incidents in recent years. For example, a few years ago the chairman of the Social Democratic youth section was sentenced in court after assaulting a restaurant employee with foreign background and shouting racist insults. Individuals with xenophobic or racist views can unfortunately be found in all parties and all parts of society.
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In addition to the things mentioned above the Sweden Democrats actively fight anti-Semitism, have declared itself a friend of Israel and have arranged several events and manifestations to honour the victims of the Holocaust.
EU, TURKEY & LISBON TREATY Our views on the European Union As mentioned earlier, one of the main objectives for the Sweden Democrats is to strengthen the sovereignty of the Swedish state. This view makes us a natural opponent to European federalism. The Sweden Democrats oppose the European Union in its current form. The party wants a strong European cooperation concerning environmental issues, trade, peace keeping, education and the fight against organised crime, but we firmly believe that all decision making should take place on a bilateral level. The Sweden Democrats want Sweden to exit the EU and replace it with bilateral cooperation and a free trade agreement within Europe, inspired by a position similar to Norway and Switzerland. The Sweden Democrats main EU policy: X
An exit from the supranational EU that shall be replaces by free trade and bilateral cooperation
Within the EU we want (among other things): X X X X X X X X X X
Reinstated border controls, limit work force immigration Increase outer border control to fight illegal immigration, organized crime and smuggling Limit new EU-members that do not belong to our economic or cultural zone Restrict immigration to the EU Cancel the Posted Workers Directive Dismantle EU farming subsidies Decrease EU:s budget Oppose EU-taxation rights No to Turkish membership in the EU Cancellation of the Lisbon treaty
SUMMARY The Sweden Democrats have been around for over 25 years. In the last elections we have grown rapidly and finally getting into the national parliament in 2010. We are a social conservative party that strive to combine the best of the political left and the political right by supporting the strong Swedish well fare-system and at the same time advocating conservative principles such respect for law and order and defending traditional values and culture.
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We now have representation in basically every local municipality in the country, we are polling as the third largest party in Sweden and are expected to be the big winner in the 2014 elections. The accusations made against us by our opponents about us being a xenophobe, extremist party are genuinely false. 20% of our own members are of foreign descent. We are in favour of cooperation, free trade and friendly relationships between the countries of Europe, but in opposition to the current supranational EU.
Stockholm, 2014-06-04
Kent Ekeroth, International secretary Sweden Democrats kent.ekeroth@sverigedemokraterna.se Phone: +46 707 83 40 00 (primary) +46 708 24 97 76 (secondary)
Sverigedemokraterna – Trygghet och Tradition – www.sverigedemokraterna.se