Swedish far-right party warns PM: No second term without us in government

Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will not be able to serve a second term unless the far-right Sweden Democrats party is in government after the next election – which is a likely scenario based on the upcoming EU election projections – Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson said on Tuesday.

In an interview with the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, Åkesson made his government ambitions clear, stating that his party will be in government after Sweden’s 2026 general election or Kristersson will not be able to secure a second term.

“There are no arguments to keep us out of government”, Åkesson said, adding that he had no interest in maintaining the current situation and that the current coalition agreement gives the party government experience, which should be proof enough that SD is ready to take on a ministry.

Since the 2022 general election, Sweden has been governed by a centre-right coalition of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats, and the Liberals. As these three parties cannot form a majority on their own, the far-right SD party agreed to support the coalition without being part of it, in exchange for the application of its immigration policy.

The SD is currently doing well in opinion polls, with the most recent giving it 21.4% of the vote, confirming its position as the country’s second-largest party, ahead of Prime Minister Kristersson’s Moderates, which only managed 17.5%.

“The Sweden Democrats have become much bigger than the other three governing parties and especially bigger than the Moderate Party, which is a great humiliation because it has always been historically the biggest centre-right party”, Karlstad University Professor Tobias Hübinette told Euractiv.

“This has given the Sweden Democrats confidence,” he said, adding that, mathematically speaking, there is no way the current prime minister can remain in power after the next election without giving in to the SD’s demands.

The EU midterms

SD’s hopes for power are also fuelled by expectations that it will do well in the European elections in June, in what will inevitably be a mid-term political test for Swedish parties before the general election in 2026.

“The EU elections are coming up and this will be a test of strength for the various parties. A rehearsal,” said Hübinette, reminding of the party’s fiercely anti-EU stance.

“There’s a very strong tradition of Euroscepticism within the Sweden Democrats. Today, they obviously accept that the European Union exists, but they insist on changing it from within, together with like-minded parties across Europe”, he said.

The Sweden Democrats, who belong to the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, have repeatedly called for the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package to be scrapped.

Åkesson also called for scrapping the EU’s fossil fuel car ban and the migration pact, for which Swedish EPP MEP Tomas Tobé was the rapporteur.

According to the Karlstad University expert, it is precisely the EU issue that is the stumbling block between the far-right and Sweden’s other pro-European centre-right parties, and that could push a future coalition with the far-right into a corner.

“In the long run, it is that kind of tension that could become a problem for such a coalition,” he said.

Aware of this, the still-powerful Swedish Social Democratic Party is licking its wounds on the opposition benches after eight years in power. With 35% in the polls, it is expected to be one of the SD’s main challengers in the European and Swedish general elections.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]