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Alternative for Sweden

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hått (talk | contribs) at 03:21, 29 March 2018 (expanding with information from Swedish sources. I’m also removing the far-right category, since the given source does not explicitly call the party far-right (instead it mentions other right-wing and far-right movements and individuals), and moving the description of its ideology to a separate section. The claim that the founders were expelled from SD because for anti-Semitism and connections with white nationalists is not backed up by the given source (it says that they were expelled because the party *suspected* that this was the case, an accusation that is rejected by (one of) them according to the article. In an interview with Dagens Nyheter they instead claim that a struggle for power was the real reason (I wrote about the conflicting versions in a separate section)).). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Alternative for Sweden (Swedish: Alternativ för Sverige) is a Swedish political party founded in 2017[1] by members of the Sweden Democrat Youth, which was collectively expelled from the Sweden Democrats in 2015. It advocates repatriation of immigrants, non-intervention, Swedish withdrawal from the European Union, flat income tax, improved animal rights and re-nationalisation of all schools. It is led by Gustav Kasselstrand and, according to him, draws inspiration from Alternative for Germany, the FPÖ and the National Front.[2]

The party has been described as right-wing by Svenska Dagbladet,[3] while Philip Barjami and J. Lester Feder connect it to right and far right movements and individuals.[4]

History

In early April 2015, the Sweden Democrats (SD) accused its youth league, the Sweden Democrat Youth (SD), of having relations with the organisation Nordisk Ungdom (Nordic Youth), described as far-right by some.[citation needed][according to whom?] In response to these alleged relations, the SD threatened to expel multiple members of the youth league. The youth league’s leader, Gustav Kasselstrand, and deputy leader, William Hahne, were eventually expelled on 27 April. They denied any accusations and claimed that Mattias Karlsson wanted to get rid of them after Hahne defeated the leadership’s preferred leadership candidate in Stockholm.[5]

Following this, the mother party launched its own leadership candidate to compete against Jessica Ohlson, who was considered an ally of Kasselstrand and Hahne, and warned that it would break off all relations with its youth party if Ohlson were to be elected. Shortly after she was elected chairman on 12 September, 2015, the SD shut down the youth league’s website and broke off all relations. It then established a new youth organisation and announced that all members that all SD members who stayed member of the SDU would be expelled. Ohlson herself was officially expelled alongside five other SDU members on 25 October, but continued to serve as chairman of the SDU, which went on to become an independent organisation.

In early 2017, Sveriges Radio reported that SDU members had filed an party registration application to the election authority.[6] The party was eventually registered on 13 December, 2018, with Kasselstrand, Hahne and Ohlson in central positions. It was then officially launched on 5 March, 2018 and at the same time announced that it would participate in the 2018 elections.

Two Sweden Democrats members of the Riksdag, Olle Felten and Jeff Ahl, defected to the party later that month.[7] According to the rules of the Riksdag, Felten and Ahl are formally considered independent MPs, meaning that Alternative for Sweden is not officially represented in the parliament.[8]

Policies

Alternative for Sweden lists three key issues:

  1. Repatriation of immigrants
  2. Democracy and politicians
  3. Law and order

It it non-interventionist and hard eurosceptic, and considers the EU a threat to Sweden’s independence. It seeks to rearm the military and form a Nordic defense alliance instead of making the country dependent on NATO. The party wants to restrict welfare benefits to Swedish citizens, shift from progressive to flat income tax, replace the differentiated VAT rates with a fixed rate, and combat the idea of a cashless society. It also wants to make the country self sufficient and to go fossil free, citing both environmental protection and national security as reasons.

References

  1. ^ "Kasselstrand vill in i riksdagen" (in Swedish). 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  2. ^ Kasselstrands nya parti ska ta väljare från SD (in Swedish)
  3. ^ Nya högerpartier utmanar – ”blir en historisk kväll” (in Swedish)
  4. ^ Fester, J. Lester; Barjami, Philip (2018-03-05). "Sweden's Nationalists Said They Had Nazi Ties. Now They Have A New Party". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
  5. ^ Kärman, Jens; Larsson, Mats J. (2015-04-28). "SDU-topparna ger inte upp - nu går de vidare". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). p. 8-9.
  6. ^ http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6628098
  7. ^ "Riksdagsledamot lämnar SD – blir politisk vilde". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2018-03-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
  8. ^ Så arbetar ledamöterna (in Swedish)
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