Per Jimmie Åkesson (; born 17 May 1979) is a Swedish politician and author, serving as leader of the Sweden Democrats since 2005. He has been a member of the Riksdag (SD) for

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...

since 2010. He previously served as leader of the

Sweden Democratic Youth Sweden Democrat Youth ( sv, Sverigedemokratisk Ungdom ; SDU) was the youth league of the Swedish political party Sweden Democrats until 12 September 2015. Background The youth league was founded in 1993 as an independent youth league to its ...

from 2000 until 2005.

Early life

Jimmie Åkesson was born in Ivetofta in Skåne County, but grew up in

Sölvesborg Sölvesborg (old da, Sølvesborg) is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013. Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to ...

Blekinge County Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne County, Skåne, Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Kalmar County, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karl ...

. His father Stefan is a businessman who ran a floor laying business and his mother Britt Marie was a care provider in a nursing home. Åkesson's parents divorced when he was young and he was raised primarily by his mother. Åkesson studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, law, economics,

human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...

and philosophy at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Prior to working full-time in politics, Åkesson worked as a

web design Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...

er at the company ''BMJ Aktiv,'' which he co-founded with

Björn Söder Björn Olof Söder (born 3 January 1976) is a Swedish Sweden Democrats politician who served as Second Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag from September 2014 to September 2018. He has been a Member of the Riksdag (SD) for Stockholm County since Octo ...

, the former party secretary of the Sweden Democrats.

Political career

Youth politics

Åkesson was a member of the Moderate Youth League, the youth wing of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...

, but left the Moderates to join the old Sweden Democratic Youth Association (the youth wing of the Sweden Democrats) in 1995, although some sources state 1994. In interviews, Åkesson has claimed that he joined the SD after many of the party's original and more hardline members had left. In 1995, he also co-founded a local chapter of the Sweden Democratic Youth Association. In 1997, he was elected as a deputy member of the party board. The SD's policies that he claims he was most attracted to at first were its view on the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, and its policy on immigration. In the

1998 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 20 September 1998. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1858 The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 131 of th ...

, at the age of 19, Åkesson was elected to public office as a

councilman A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Sölvesborg Municipality Sölvesborg Municipality (''Sölvesborgs kommun'') is a municipality in Blekinge County in South Sweden in southern Sweden. It borders to Bromölla Municipality, Olofström Municipality and Karlshamn Municipality. The town Sölvesborg is the seat ...

. The same year, he also became deputy chairman of the newly established

''(Sverigedemokratisk Ungdom)'', and later, from 2000 to 2005, was chairman of the organisation.

2005–present: Party leader

Jimmie Åkesson inför partiledardebatt i SVT

In 2005, he defeated party leader Mikael Jansson in a party election to become the party leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD). During his chairmanship of the youth league and as party leader, Åkesson has been described and has presented himself as part of a driving force to moderate the SD's policies and image. In the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, ...

, the SD for the first time crossed the

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

and entered the Riksdag, with 5.70% of the votes, gaining 20 seats. Åkesson, who was placed first on the party's national ballot, was elected as a

Member of the Riksdag Members of Parliament ( Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the Riksdag. In Swedish, an MP is usually referred to ...

(MP) along with 19 of his fellow party members. In September 2014, Sveriges Radio (SR) reported that Åkesson had spent upwards of 500,000 kronor ($70,000) in 2014 alone on online betting. The sum is more than the politician would have earned all year, after tax, reported SR. The revelation caused an uproar, both among people who view Åkesson as unreliable and those who opposed SR's decision to publish the information. Among the latter were former

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

Spokesperson

Maria Wetterstrand Ingrid Maria Wetterstrand (born 2 October 1973) is a Swedish politician. She was one of the spokespersons of the Green Party alongside Peter Eriksson between 2002 and 2011. Between 2001 and 2011 she was a member of the Riksdag. Wetterstrand ...

and Foreign Minister

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

. Åkesson himself called SR's actions an attempt at

character assassination "Character Assassination" is a four-issue Spider-Man story arc written by Marc Guggenheim with art by John Romita, Jr. and published by Marvel Comics. The arc appears in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #584-#588. An interlude, "The Spartacus Gambit" ...

. Following the

, Åkesson announced he would be on sick leave due to burnout. In early 2015, Åkesson was named Sweden's most important opinion leader for the calendar year 2014 by the Swedish magazine ''DSM'' in their annual rankings. On 27 March 2015, Åkesson publicly announced that he would return to his duties as party leader for the SD, albeit initially in a somewhat reduced role, on the SVT program '' Skavlan'', as well as in an open letter on his Facebook page. In the 2018 Swedish general election, the SD got 17.6% of the votes (+4.7 pp), after the Swedish Social Democratic Party (28.4%, -2.6 pp) and the

(19.8%, -3.5 pp). SD had 62 of 349 seats in the next Riksdag. The SD saw a greater rise in support during the

2022 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...

under Åkesson's leadership with the party overtaking the Moderates to become the second largest in the Riksdag.

Personal life

Åkesson was engaged to Louise Erixon, a former parliamentary aid to Björn Söder and the daughter of former Sweden Democrats MP Margareta Gunsdotter. Erixon is currently the mayor of

, and one of the first Sweden Democrats to hold a local mayorship. They have a son, born in 2013. On 24 April 2020, Erixon announced on her Facebook page that the couple had separated some time previously. Outside of politics, Åkesson is also a musician and plays keyboard for the rock group ''Bedårande Barn'' alongside Peter London. Åkesson currently resides in

. According to his personal profile, his main interests are playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

and watching football. He is a supporter of

Mjällby AIF Mjällby Allmänna Idrottsförening, also known simply as Mjällby AIF, Mjällby or (especially locally) MAIF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Hällevik. The club is affiliated to Blekinge Fotbollförbund and play its ho ...

Bibliography

* (2008): ''20 röster om 20 år. Sverigedemokraterna 1988–2008'' * (2009): ''Åkesson om... Vecka 40–52 2008'' * (2013): ''Satis polito''. * (2018): ''Det moderna folkhemmet''.

References

External links

*
Jimmie Åkesson
at the Sweden Democrats' website
Jimmie Åkesson's political blog

Jimmie Åkesson
at the Swedish parliament's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Akesson, Jimmie 1979 births Living people Leaders of political parties in Sweden Swedish bloggers Lund University alumni People from Bromölla Municipality People from Sölvesborg Municipality People from Blekinge Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 Members of the Riksdag 2022–2026 Members of the Riksdag from the Sweden Democrats 21st-century Swedish politicians Opposition leaders