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The Sweden Democrats count on ministerial posts in the event of a new election win – and point out the direction forward with a series of radical proposals that go beyond the Tidö Agreement.
– I think that there is a large popular base, says party secretary Mattias Bäckström Johansson.
It is a Sweden Democrat with a tailwind in public opinion who meet for their party congress, known as the Landsdagarna, in Västerås this weekend.
For the party leadership, it is about creating the image that SD has had a broad impact for its policy and that the promised paradigm shift is being rolled out bit by bit. But also about identifying the next step and what should happen after the 2026 election.
During the autumn, the party launched several new ideas – such as life sentences for 13-year-olds, the deprivation of liberty of gang criminals even before they commit crimes and, most recently, an opportunity to make people stateless by stripping them of their Swedish citizenship.
– Considering the social development we have with shootings and explosions, and gang crime that increasingly tends to threaten the system, there is a need to take further steps to fight back against it, says SD’s party secretary Mattias Bäckström Johansson.
Want to make stateless
It will be necessary to increase penalties, tougher measures and much clearer signals against foreign-born people who engage in crime, he says.
– We want to be a clear voice for what you can expect by voting for the Sweden Democrats, what do we see as the next step beyond this.
The proposal to make people who have obtained Swedish citizenship stateless is included in the party’s program of principles, which is expected to be voted through at the national congresses.
Bäckström Johansson points to Great Britain.
– There they chose to withdraw citizenship for people who traveled down to Syria to become part of the caliphate IS was trying to build. It has been tried against the European Convention and international law where it was given the go-ahead that there were no obstacles to making those persons stateless.
– We are no stranger to the possibility that it should be possible to reconsider.
He emphasizes that it should only apply to people who are abroad, and not to people who are staying in Sweden.
– It will be strange, then there is no place to deport them to either.
“I think there is a longing”
He assesses that there is a large popular support for the moves that have been made lately, including things like life sentences for 13-year-olds and deprivation of liberty for preventive purposes.
– I think there is a longing to use all available means to counter serious crime and reverse the trend, where obviously no measures have yet succeeded in doing so.
At the same time, SD is concerned that the promised paradigm shift will go too slowly.
Most investigations into heavy proposals against gangs and migration have now been completed, but in several cases it is delayed until 2025 and 2026 before new legislation can be in place. Then the laws must have time to have an impact as well.
Mattias Bäckström Johansson raises temporary laws, like those introduced during the pandemic, as a kind of shortcut.
– There must be a crisis awareness. There will be a need to push things faster.
TT: Is there an impatience among the grassroots?
– Rather, I experience a great deal of satisfaction. Then many wished that it went faster.
Wants to join the government
The public opinion successes have given SD self-confidence. After 2026, the goal is to be a governing party.
– We will not be part of any kind of new Tidö agreement. It is a matter of course that if we are part of a government base, then we are in government.
TT: What government do you see in front of you?
– I see good conditions for continuing the collaboration that exists, says Bäckström Johansson, referring to M-KD-L.
TT: Is there greater pressure within the party for Jimmie Åkesson to sit as prime minister after the 2026 election?
– There was probably such an expectation among voters already when we entered the Riksdag in 2010. But it is an issue that must be negotiated. First we have to win the election, then we have to reason about different parts after that.
FAKTASD’s country days
SD’s Landsdagar is the party’s highest decision-making body.
They start on November 23 and run until November 26.
At the country days, a new program of principles is to be voted through.
Among other things, the party board wants to include the new wording: “Naturalized citizens who fail their civic duties and seriously harm society should be able to have their citizenship reconsidered.”
A new party board must also be elected. Among other things, the group leader in the Riksdag, Linda Lindberg, is expected to be elected second deputy party chairman. At the same time, veteran Björn Söder is allowed to leave.
The Congress must also take a position on the more than 200 motions received from members.
The party board says yes to a few of them, including that people convicted of murdering their children’s other parents should be deprived of custody, the establishment of a terror fund for victims of terror and that staff in, for example, schools and preschools should be able to be anonymous when reporting concerns.
There can be a hot debate about the EU issue. The Young Swedes want SD to work for a Swedish withdrawal from the EU, a swexit, if the transfer of power continues in an “unacceptable” way.
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