SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson did not hold back during the party's election conference last weekend. The Tidö parties have a "significant disadvantage" in public opinion and time is running out.
It's a bigger deficit than anyone has seen before. At the same time, unusual things are happening all the time these days, says Jimmie Åkesson, in light of the fact that the gap between the blocs is now 12.6 percentage points according to Statistics Sweden.
The Liberals also risk leaving the Riksdag, and Åkesson does not rule out asking his voters to vote for L.
In this situation, I'm not ruling anything out. Then I have a hard time seeing that it's primarily Sweden Democrats' votes that will save the Liberals.
Safe, free and Swedish
SD is going into the election with the message "safe, free and Swedish." They will always be the party critical of immigration, according to Åkesson, but ahead of this fall's elections, a new focus on welfare policy is expected.
The party says no to a worsening unemployment insurance fund and does not intend to accept the Moderates' proposal to tighten the time limit, increase the phase-out from day 201 and remove the right to deduct.
No deterioration of the unemployment insurance fund. We are completely against it.
More people may instead need to receive 80 percent of their salary for the first 100 days, he says.
Health insurance must not be reduced either, and "market rents" are excluded. Åkesson can also promise expanded high-cost dental coverage for all age groups.
I can promise that we will be able to push through.
The qualifying period deduction will also be reviewed with a focus on the healthcare professions, and the party is open to allowing healthcare professionals to have their student loans paid off, similar to what was recently decided for police officers.
Tearing up residence permits
In migration policy, most of the work has already been done, according to the SD leader.
I don't see any major reforms ahead in those areas.
The SD wants to tear up permanent residence permits and convert them into temporary residence permits in the next term. But now Åkesson is toning down the proposal.
I don't think it's a big issue. The big issue is how we deal with immigration-related problems. Now that we have such low immigration, we have the opportunity to actually start to heal the country again.
There is more to be done in the area of integration and SD will strongly oppose proposals for “forced mixing” of the population. At the same time, vulnerable areas may need to be demolished, according to the SD leader.
In some parts of the country, the Million Programme areas are in pretty bad shape and need to be replaced in some way, says Åkesson, mentioning the conversion of rental apartments into condominiums as one measure.
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years.
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility is, I think, an important thing. Then whether it becomes 13 or 14 years is perhaps less important. The important thing is that young offenders are handled in a different way than we have done so far.
Ban on veils in public places.
It's a symbol of oppression against women. I can understand that people want to protest and think differently, and you have every right to do so, but I think it's disrespectful to those who are actually affected by this coercion.
The Liberals.
Yes, that's great, Åkesson replies when asked if he is happy that the "quarrel faction" within the Liberal Party is now leaving the Riksdag and the party.
Since Simona Mohamsson took over, our relationship has improved considerably. The Liberals are a better party today than they were before this decision (to allow the SD into the government). This quarrelsome faction is now choosing to step down. That makes the Liberals a more reasonable party to deal with.
The Sweden Democrats have presented their election platform for 2026. Here are some proposals.
Lower taxes on electricity and lower taxes on fuel and food. The party wants to keep the halved food VAT, which costs around 21 billion a year.
The qualifying period deduction will be reviewed with a focus on welfare professions.
Improved unemployment insurance with a high ceiling and "clear escalation."
High-cost dental care coverage that covers everyone.
Farm sales of alcohol are being expanded, as well as extended opening hours at Systembolaget and sales of chilled drinks.
A zero vision for child sexual abuse.
Mosques where Islamist values, anti-Semitism or glorification of terrorism are preached should be demolished.
Abolish publicly funded mother tongue education.
Anti-Swedish sentiment, humiliating robberies and gang rapes against Swedes should be considered hate crimes.
