For over a decade, the Sweden Democrats have positioned themselves as the foremost opponents of multiculturalism in Sweden and the only parliamentary party seriously committed to stopping mass immigration. There is no doubt that the party has been successful in steering policy in a more Sweden-friendly direction. But recently, Jimmie Åkesson has started to signal something different. As the election approaches and the media as well as the other Tidö parties put pressure on the party, they back down.

Two decisions stand out as particularly serious: the pause in so-called teenage deportations and the decision to postpone the issue of revoking permanent residence permits until after the election.

The Deportations

The deportations are not a new phenomenon. It is connected to the fact that since 2021, Sweden has increasingly granted temporary residence permits instead of permanent ones, which means more people face a new review just as they become adults. Further tightening was done in 2023 when the opportunity for humanitarian exemptions was limited.

The issue has been inflated right now as part of the left-liberal propaganda machine ahead of the election. Initially, Jimmie Åkesson resisted. As recently as February 2026, SD and the other Tidö parties voted against a pause in deportations. Despite this, Åkesson has changed his mind and now wants to implement what the party recently voted against.

The Permanent Residence Permits

Even more concerning is the party’s turnaround on the large-scale revocation of permanent residence permits and replacing them with temporary ones. In the debate, the scope has been described as up to 185,000 affected permits. This has long been portrayed as a cornerstone of the SD’s policy: that residence permits should be temporary and revoked when the grounds for the permit no longer exist. The result is that one of the Tidö Agreement’s most potent migration reforms is not being implemented.

This is exactly why the Sweden Democrats need to be much tougher in negotiations, which is also evident in the failure regarding one of the most crucial issues in Swedish immigration policy: citizenship. Although the Sweden Democrats have supported the Tidö government in order to achieve a stricter immigration policy, hundreds of thousands of new citizenships have been granted during the mandate period.

Citizenships and Labor Migration

Already during the Tidö negotiations, the party should have pushed for a moratorium on citizenships. Instead of taking a hard line and demanding a temporary pause on granting new Swedish citizenships, they now accept pauses in deportations— a step in the completely opposite direction.

A recent and telling example of the same type of concession is the so-called “Sweden Promise” that SD recently made with the Liberals. Here, the parties have agreed to facilitate the recruitment of so-called highly qualified labor from abroad, which, translated from politically correct Swedish, means Foodora couriers as well as incompetent Indians who are intended to undercut wages for Swedish engineers and IT technicians. A formulation that cannot be interpreted as anything other than a policy for further immigration.

Whenever politicians open vents and exceptions, the result has always been the same: increased immigration. The tactic from the left-liberal establishment is always the same—urgent cases are amplified in order to soften the policy.

This is exactly how sharp proposals are undermined—step by step, exception by exception. Don’t let the Sweden Democrats become just another party. Return to the path of the blue anemone.

Jeff Ahl, Chairman of the Heimr Think Tank
Andreas Feymark, Member of the Heimr Think Tank
Robert Almgren, Member of the Heimr Think Tank