The National Democrats (''Nationaldemokraterna'', ND) were a political party in Sweden, formed by a radical faction of national board of the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

(SD) in October 2001 after they were expelled from the SD. The party described itself as a democratic nationalist and ethnopluralist party.Nationaldemokraterna
Nd.se. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. The party disbanded on 23 April 2014. In the 2002 general election the party received 9,248 votes, far below the 4% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. In the 2006 general election, the party received 3,064 votes (0.06%); however, they had representation in two

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

south of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. In the 2010 general election, the party received 1,141 votes (0.02%). The chairman of the party was

Marc Abramsson Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

. On 2 February 2008, the old party logo consisting of a blue and yellow sail was replaced with an orange

cloudberry ''Rubus chamaemorus'' is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. Its English common names include cloudberry, Nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry ...

flower.

History

The party's initial leadership was composed of individuals who left the Sweden Democrats, criticizing the party for its shift toward right-wing populism and for diminishing the emphasis on ethnicity within its nationalist ideology. At its founding, the National Democrats established four permanent statutes outlining the party's commitment to national democratic ethnopluralism. The party adopted blue and yellow as its colors and chose a blue-and-yellow sail as its symbol. Anders Steen was elected the first party leader of the National Democrats, while his stepson, Tor Paulsson, was chosen as party organizer. Marc Abramsson was elected chairman of the National Democratic Youth (NDU), and Vávra Suk was appointed party secretary and chief ideologue. In the general elections in 2002, the National Democrats received 4,122 votes in the parliamentary and four municipal council seats - two in Haninge municipality and two in Södertälje municipality. The party ran a no-campaign during the referendum on the introduction of the euro as a currency, and in the 2004 European elections, the National Democrats received 7,209 votes, corresponding to 0.29 percent of the vote. After midsummer 2004, the party suffered a major scandal after party organizer Tor Paulsson was arrested by police for assault, something that received special attention when the assailant was Paulsson's cohabitant and Paulsson himself condemned Muslim men's violence against women. In December of the same year, Paulsson deviated from an unattended leave, which led to his being called. Subsequent internal conflicts caused significant portions of the organization to collapse, with many active members and local branches becoming inactive. The conflicts escalated further when party leader Anders Steen introduced a motion in Haninge's municipal council advocating for stronger measures against anti-Semitism. The party had previously expressed support for the Palestinian struggle for a national state, which sparked criticism of the motion. Critics interpreted it as tacit support for Israeli policies. Shortly thereafter, Steen left the party, along with the Haninge local branch. At an extraordinary

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

meeting on 3 October 2004, Tomas Johansson was elected the new party leader for the National Democrats, and Marc Abramsson became the new party organizer, which contributed to closer cooperation with the newly formed Freedom Party. On December 9, 2005, the Freedom Party joined the National Democrats, and Nils-Eric Hennix was elected new party leader. Hennix introduced two new points in the program of principles, which concerned demands for large tax cuts, as well as increased animal welfare. In the 2006 election The National Democrats received 3,064 votes in the parliamentary elections, which corresponds to 0.06 percent of the votes. The party also received three municipal council seats - two in Södertälje municipality and one in Nykvarn municipality. Shortly afterwards, Hennix resigned as party leader due to illness, and was replaced by Abramsson. In realpolitik, the party moved toward a left-wing nationalist stance but maintained its demands for enhanced animal protection. On February 2, 2008, the party held a relaunch in Stockholm, adopting orange as its new color and the cloudberry flower as its new symbol. An exception to its strictly independent policy was the party's participation in the Salem March. After previous conflicts with the organizers in the Salem Fund, the demonstration adopted a more populist tone that the party could support. During Abramsson's work as organizer and party leader, ties to other European national democratic parties, mainly the German NPD and British BNP but also the northern Italian

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

, have also been strengthened. In the 2010 parliamentary elections , the National Democrats received 1,141 votes, which corresponds to 0.02 percent of the votes, 1,923 fewer (a decline of 0.04 percentage points) than in the 2006 parliamentary elections where the party received 3,064 or 0.06 percent of the electorate's votes cast. The National Democrats won 2 municipal seats in Södertälje and 1 in Nykvarn. Just before the 2011 Riksdag meeting, Deputy Party leader Daniel Spansk left the National Democrats together with three others in a protest against party leader Marc Abramsson's leadership style.

Ideology

ND's ideology was described as

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

and/or

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

by the newspaper expressen. The party rejected these descriptions. The party was critical of

United States foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

and of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

.Nationaldemokraterna
Nd.se. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. Nationaldemokraterna
The party also opposed what it called the "imperialist occupations of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Electoral results

Parliament (''Riksdag'')

Leadership

Party leader

* Anders Steen (20012004) * Tomas Johansson (20042005) * Nils-Eric Hennix (20052006) *

(20062014)

References

External links

{{Alliance of European National Movements 2001 establishments in Sweden 2014 disestablishments in Sweden Defunct political parties in Sweden Euronat members Far-right politics in Sweden Minor political parties in Sweden Nationalist parties in Sweden Political parties disestablished in 2014 Political parties established in 2001 Sweden Democrats Swedish nationalism Third Position