After a week dominated by Kalla Fakta’s revelation that SD uses anonymous accounts in social media, the party leaders clashed in the Riksdag. The debate was held due to the upcoming election, but the EU issues were overshadowed by SD’s working methods.
Magdalena Andersson (S) set the tone when she stated in her introductory speech that the working method brings to mind Russia. But it wasn’t Jimmie Åkesson (SD) she targeted, but Ulf Kristersson (M). It was the prime minister who was the target of the opposition’s offensive.
When Andersson responded to Åkesson, she chose not to confront him about anonymous accounts. Instead, she put the powder on redundancies in welfare and social security. The political debate Kristersson called for took the opposition leader with the SD leader. Possibly another example of S’s quest to make the largest government party irrelevant.
For his part, the Prime Minister tried to counter by calling the major parties to come together for Sweden’s interests in the EU. But the ambition to appear as the “adult in the room” who does not engage in political games was not much for him today. However, the message may go home to voters who do not follow Riksdag debates but mostly want our elected officials to stop bickering.
Johan Pehrson (L) had a greater need to mark distance to SD. But the finding that the Tidö parties did not enter into marriage but have a contract hardly impresses the internal critics. Should L lose his mandate in the European Parliament, the party leadership will sweat because the explanation will then be the cooperation with SD.
So how tough was today’s exercise for the person once again at the center of the debate? Jimmie Åkesson seemed as unconcerned about the anonymous accounts now as he was last week. If SD had had a choice, they would certainly have opted out of Kalla Fakta’s disclosure. But instead of backing down, Åkesson uses it to get the core voters to the ballot boxes.