The day before the EU elections, the Sweden Democrats sent out a mass text message to an unknown number of phone numbers. “Don’t let TV4’s influence operation win the EU election. Vote for the Sweden Democrats tomorrow,” the text message reads.
Political scientist Jonas Hinnfors believes that since SD has historically had some difficulty in getting its voters to the ballot boxes, the mailing is a way to get more people to actually go and vote.
– SD hopes that this will mobilize voters. They use word choices that fit well with what the party perceives and what they think of established media. It is a party that has a little, a little more difficulty in getting its voters to go to the polls. If you then use this type of “fiery” argumentation, you can perhaps push a few more to go and vote on election day.
Several party leaders critical
The Sweden Democrats’ text message on Saturday aroused strong reactions from several quarters. For TV4 Nyheterna, several party leaders are now speaking out about SD’s measures.
– That they end this election campaign with an attack on the free, independent and scrutinizing media in Sweden, I find that very, very worrying. Scrutinizing media is a cornerstone of democracy and I expect clear action from Ulf Kristersson, says Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson.
Yesterday 15:28
Magdalena Andersson (S) about the SD’s text message: “Very worrying”
– It is so strange that SD acts this way. This is an attack on free media that they are carrying out. I thought that they would somehow think that what they were doing was strange in terms of troll accounts and so on, but this… I have not seen anything like this before – it is under all criticism, says the spokesperson for the Green Party Daniel Helldén in an interview with TV4 Nyheterna.
The Liberals’ party leader also agrees with the criticism of the Sweden Democrats’ actions and responds in a text message to TV4 Nyheterna:
“The way the Sweden Democrats express themselves is deeply inappropriate. Free media scrutinize us all. That is their task and I am incredibly grateful for that.”
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M), on the other hand, does not attach much importance to SD’s SMS.
The Sweden Democrats must answer questions about the Sweden Democrats in this election campaign, I do not intend to do that, he tells TT and continues:
There is so much in this election campaign. The Sweden Democrats seem to hate TV4, the Social Democrats seem to hate the Sweden Democrats. I try to engage in policy.