On Thursday, the justice committee takes up the opposition’s demand for a vote on chairman Richard Jomshof (SD).
The background is a series of tweets in which Jomshof criticized Islam in strong terms, something which the Social Democrats said “risks Sweden’s security” and demanded the committee chairman’s resignation.
On August 14, the opposition parties the Social Democrats, the Center Party, the Left Party and the Green Party called a press conference to say that they are requesting a vote.
– They talk about it being about the security situation and to some extent that is where we end up between the positions of what we value most, freedom of expression or the security situation. They end up on a collision course with each other, says Jens B Nordström, political commentator.
Criticism from the Liberals
Criticism has also been expressed among the Tidö parties, mainly among the Liberals.
– There will then be a conflict and the Social Democrats will take the chance. They know that the Liberals don’t like this tweeting and they are being forced to vote on this, says Jens B Nordström.
Richard Jomshof himself has defended his statements by saying that they are accurate and historical renderings of what Islam stands for.
– There is nothing in what I say that is wrong. There is no one who can point out factual errors in what I write. What I say is true, the SD politician previously told TV4 Nyheterna.
Richard Jomshof has, among other things, described the prophet Muhammad as a “robber” and “mass murderer”.
– He likes to talk about the fact that this is a criticism of Islamism, but there is also a rather rough history within the Sweden Democrats that it is Islam in general and Muslims in general that have been criticized and even if Jomshof says that it has absolutely nothing to do with it to do, I think the Liberals understand that those undertones are still there, says Jens B Nordström.
Voting on voting
On Thursday, the justice committee will vote on whether to vote on Richard Jomshof’s presidency or not.
– The Liberals have several people who are critical within the party, but Juno Blom, who sits on the committee and will vote on this, has said that she will back Jomshof, says Jens B Nordström.
– When politicians say that they are critical of this but that there are other tools, then it usually means that they will not do anything. So everything points to Richard Jomshof staying on.