Erik Anders Almqvist (born 24 May 1982) is a Swedish former politician. As a former member of the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

, he was

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the Swedish Riksdag from 2010 until his resignation on 21 February 2013.

Career

Prior to becoming a member 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 ...

, Almqvist was first a member of the Young Left and later of the

Liberal Youth of Sweden The Liberal Youth of Sweden ( sv, Liberala ungdomsförbundet, LUF) is the youth wing of the Swedish Liberals. The Liberal Youth of Sweden has a long tradition of international cooperation and is a full member of the International Federation of L ...

from 1998 to 2004. From 2007 to 2010, he was chairman of the Sweden Democratic Youth. During this years the membership and activity rise significantly as a result of a more activist approach, which began in the autumn of 2008 when it conducted a square meeting tour against Swedish hostility, during which Almqvist spoke and said that there was a structural hostility against Swedes that was hidden by "

the establishment ''The Establishment'' is a term used to describe a dominant social group , group or elite that controls a polity or an organization. It may comprise a closed social group that selects its own members, or entrenched elite structures in specific ...

". The campaign was marked by widespread and violent counter-demonstrations. He has also been the political secretary of the party in Skåne Regional Council. On January 17, 2012 Almqvist took office as economic policy spokesman for his party. The former spokesman was criticized for being a weak debater and was replaced. Almqvist was highlighted in April 2009 for a video from a conference trip with the youth league, where he and

William Petzäll William Nils Erich Petzäll (26 August 1988 – 1 September 2012) was a Swedish politician, former member of the Sweden Democrats and Chairman of the Sweden Democratic Youth. At the 2010 Swedish general election he was elected to be the parliamen ...

, then vice chairman of the youth league, sang and listened to songs from so-called

white power music White power music is music that promotes white nationalism. It encompasses various music styles, including rock, country, experimental music and folk.Messner, Beth A., Art Jipson, Paul J. Becker and Bryan Byers. 2007. "The Hardest Hate: A Soci ...

. In June 2010, Almqvist was involved in an altercation with a Swedish comedian

Soran Ismail Soran Ismail (born December 3, 1987 in Iran), is a Swedish Kurdish comedian, TV personality and author of Kurdish descent who as an immigrant grew up in Knivsta, Uppsala County and lived most of his life in Sweden. He is well known for his partici ...

known as the "Iron Bar Scandal" in which he and several other leading SD politicians had filmed themselves calling people "Babbe" (derogatory insult meaning foreigner), "whore", brandishing iron poles and finally leaving the scene after talking to arriving policemen and chortling about how easy it is to "suck up" to the police. In November 2012 the newspaper

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

followed up the quarrel with Ismail, and could show unedited footage from the event, where Almqvist said that Ismail has a "behaviour like a babbe" ''(in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, babbe is an invective word for an immigrant)'' and used epithets like "pussy". He also called a young Swedish woman "a little whore". SD has criticized Expressen for "cuttings and pastings" in the footage and that they do not want to show all the filmed material, which contrasts diametrically with the proven facts that SD had in fact manipulated the film and removed all traces of their actions. This event led to his resignation from the position as economic policy spokesman for the party and his place in the executive committee of the party and in the party board. He resigned from the Riksdag and renounced his membership in the

on 21 February 2013. He now lives in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

.Erik Almqvist moves to Hungary
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almqvist, Erik 1982 births Members of the Riksdag from the Sweden Democrats Living people Swedish expatriates in Hungary Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014