The right-wing party gets 4 chairmanships in the Riksdag
AP
STOCKHOLM (AP) – A right-wing populist party that received the second most votes in Sweden’s parliamentary elections last month won the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees on Saturday and with it the opportunity to exert more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.
The positions that legislators from the Sweden Democrats must hold include chairman of the Riksdag’s justice, foreign affairs, business and labor market committees.
– It is important for us, a milestone in the party’s history, says legislator Richard Jomshof, a Sweden Democrat who was appointed as the next chairman of the justice committee, to SVT. – It is an expression of the fact that we are Sweden’s second largest party.
In addition to the four chairmanships, the party was able to appoint the vice-chairmen of the Riksdag’s civil, traffic, defense and tax committees.
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The Sweden Democrats, a nationalist and anti-immigration party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, are part of the right-wing bloc that won a narrow majority in the Riksdag in the September 11 election.
Decisions on the posts were announced on Friday in a joint statement by the four centrist parties in talks to form a coalition government. The Sweden Democrats, who are one of the four, announced their nominees on Saturday.
Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the centre-right Moderates, the party that came third, has been tasked with forming a government that will likely have the Sweden Democrats as part of a governing coalition or at least the party’s support to secure a majority in parliament.
Kristersson has until October 12 to present the results of his talks with the parties to the speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlen.
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