Alternative for Sweden

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Alternative for Sweden
Alternativ för Sverige
Leader Gustav Kasselstrand
Founded 13 December 2017 (2017-12-13) (registered)
5 March 2018 (2018-03-05) (launched)
Split from Sweden Democrats
Ideology Swedish nationalism[1]
Right-wing populism[2][3]
Social conservatism[4]
Hard Euroscepticism
Anti-immigration
Ethnic nationalism
Political position Right-wing to far-right[5][6][4]
Riksdag
0 / 349
European Parliament
0 / 20
County councils
0 / 1,597
Municipal councils
0 / 12,780
Website
alternativforsverige.se
Politics of Sweden
Political parties
Elections

Alternative for Sweden (Swedish: Alternativ för Sverige) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 2017 by members of the Sweden Democrat Youth, which was collectively expelled from the Sweden Democrats in 2015.[7] It advocates repatriation of immigrants, non-intervention, Swedish withdrawal from the European Union and improved animal rights. It is led by Gustav Kasselstrand and, according to him, draws inspiration from Alternative for Germany, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the French National Front.[8]

History

In early April 2015, the Sweden Democrats (SD) accused its youth league, the Sweden Democrat Youth (SDU), of having relations with the white power organisation Nordisk Ungdom (Nordic Youth).[9] In response to these alleged relations, SD threatened to expel several leading members of SDU. The SDU’s leader Gustav Kasselstrand and deputy leader William Hahne were eventually expelled on 27 April. They both denied all accusations and claimed that Mattias Karlsson wanted to get rid of them after Hahne defeated the leadership’s preferred candidate for the SDU chairmanship in Stockholm.[10]

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 SDU if Ohlson were to be elected. Shortly after she was elected chairman on 12 September 2015, the SD shut down SDU’s website and broke off all relations. It then established a new youth organisation, Ungsvenskarna (Young Swedes) and announced that every SD member who remained a member of 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 a party registration application to the election authority.[11] The party was eventually registered on 13 December 2017, with Kasselstrand, Hahne and Ohlson in central positions. It was then officially launched on 5 March 2018; at the same time, it 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.[12] According to the rules of the Riksdag, Felten and Ahl are considered independent MPs, meaning that Alternative for Sweden is not officially represented in the parliament.[13] Former SD chairman Mikael Jansson followed on 9 April,[clarification needed] citing resistance to NATO and an allegedly lukewarm policy on this issue as his main reason.[citation needed]

Ideology and policies

On its website, Alternative for Sweden lists three key issues:[14]

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

AfS is non-interventionist and displays hard Euroscepticism; it considers the EU a threat to Sweden’s independence. It seeks to rearm the military and form a Nordic defense alliance, instead of making Sweden dependent on NATO. It wishes to restrict welfare benefits to Swedish citizens, shift from progressive to flat income tax, replace the differentiated VAT rates with a fixed rate, re-nationalise all schools, and combat the idea of a cashless society. AfS also wishes to make the country self-sufficient and end the use of fossil fuels, citing both environmental protection and national security reasons.[14]

AfS has been described as both right-wing, far-right and right-wing populist by Svenska Dagbladet,[5][6][3] while Dagens Nyheter has described the party as nationalist and right-wing populist.[1][2] Bloomberg News has described the party as social conservative and far-right.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-09/far-right-defections-seen-making-sweden-s-nationalists-palatable
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Kasselstrands nya parti ska ta väljare från SD (in Swedish)
  9. ↑ http://expo.se/2011/med-skracken-som-vapen_3773.html
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6628098
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Så arbetar ledamöterna (in Swedish)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Vår politik (political platform; in Swedish)

External links

  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata. (in Swedish)
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