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Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats, held a press conference on Thursday following the party’s unexpected electoral setback. He used the occasion to reaffirm the party’s insistence on securing ministerial posts in any future government.
When asked whether the Sweden Democrats might be willing to drop their demand for ministerial positions in order to help the right‑wing coalition form a government with the Centre Party, Åkesson said the party’s stance was unchanged. “We are not going to give up any of our demands,” he stated.
Åkesson argued that it was the Centre Party that needed to shift its position, noting that the Sweden Democrats had no “red lines.” He added that the party’s large parliamentary presence made it unreasonable to expect the Sweden Democrats to yield, and he criticized smaller centrist parties for causing “a great deal of parliamentary chaos in Sweden over a very long time.”
The Sweden Democrats experienced a decline in the recent election, dropping three percentage points from their 2022 result. Åkesson said the party had anticipated a loss of support after four years of cooperation with centre‑right parties. “It’s nothing particularly dramatic; I think all analysts foresaw that this could happen,” he said.
He attributed part of the party’s drop in support to what he called the “Churchill Effect,” a phenomenon in which voters abandon a party after it achieves its goals. “They said we would collapse when we got power. We haven’t. On the contrary, the Sweden Democrats remain a large party,” Åkesson added.
Åkesson also denied reports that he was planning a temporary break from party leadership. He said, “I’m not going to resign… I’m not going to take a ‘pause’ either.” He suggested that the anonymous sources cited by broadcaster TV4 were “not particularly well‑informed if they even exist.”
The press conference was interrupted when public broadcaster SVT switched to cover the arrival of Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson at the Swedish parliament to meet Speaker Andreas Norlén.
Sweden Democrats’ insistence on ministerial posts and Åkesson’s denial of a leadership break come amid ongoing negotiations among Sweden’s political parties following the election.
Article source: www.thelocal.se | Image credit: www.thelocal.se
