After weeks of criticism over the controversial leaflets distributed in Hylte, the Sweden Democrats’ party board has decided to expel regional politician and former parliamentary candidate Stina Isaksson from the party. She herself describes the decision as unreasonable, while at the same time apologizing for the campaign that sparked the storm.

The Sweden Democrats’ party board has decided to expel Hylte politician Stina Isaksson from the party with immediate effect.

– We can confirm that Stina Isaksson has today been expelled from the Sweden Democrats. This is following a decision by the party board, states the party’s press office.

The background is the much-discussed leaflet campaign that the Sweden Democrats in Hylte carried out in May. The leaflets were distributed in Swedish, Arabic, Somali, and Albanian and contained the message: “Put a stop to social services taking your children.”

The campaign was quickly met with harsh criticism because the wording was seen as reminiscent of the so-called LVU campaign, where disinformation was spread claiming that Swedish authorities were unjustly taking Muslim children into care.

Strong Reaction to the Decision

Stina Isaksson announced the expulsion herself on social media. “When I woke up today, I was a Sweden Democrat. Now I am partyless, expelled,” she writes.

She describes the decision as a heavy blow and expresses great disappointment with the party’s actions. “Everything you’ve fought for, straight into the trash bin. My whole life has been turned radically upside down.”

At the same time, she states that she intends to remain as an independent politician in both the region and the municipality until the end of the year.

Isaksson considers the party’s action to be disproportionate. “To be expelled from the party for this, I think is unreasonable. They could have given me a warning or perhaps taken away my parliamentary position.”

She also believes that the party leadership chose the wrong path in handling the issue and writes that the party has chosen to “play into the hands of the left-wing media.”

Apologizes for the Leaflets

Despite her criticism of the party’s decision, Isaksson expresses regret over how the campaign was designed.

“The leaflets were terribly ill-conceived, and clumsily expressed. We never intended to contribute to any disinformation campaign or conspiracy theory. To everyone negatively affected by this and who have taken offense, I want to sincerely apologize.”

Already when the criticism first arose, the distribution of the material was stopped. In an earlier comment, Isaksson wrote:

“I have been in contact with my district and I now understand that there is a risk of this being misunderstood. We never intended to contribute to any conspiracy theory or disinformation campaign. We have immediately stopped distributing this leaflet.”

She also later gave a written explanation to SVT. “Since we now belatedly realized that they could be so gravely misinterpreted, we decided not to distribute them any longer. It was not intended to be connected to the LVU campaign.”

When asked what could have been misunderstood, she replied that she had nothing more to add. “I have already said everything I have to say about this. Now MU (the membership committee) will look into this and we’ll see. It’s an internal process that I will not comment on.”

Åkesson: “Genuinely Inappropriate”

The criticism of the campaign quickly reached the party leadership. SD leader Jimmie Åkesson described the leaflet initiative as “genuinely inappropriate” and confirmed that Isaksson would be reviewed by the party’s membership committee.

At the time, Isaksson was one of the party’s most prominent figures in Halland. She was third on the Sweden Democrats’ parliamentary list for the county and topped the party’s lists for both the region and the municipal council in Hylte.

The Party: Rooted in Ignorance

When the criticism against the leaflets mounted, the party district also did not defend the campaign. Lars Larsson, district chair for the Sweden Democrats in Halland, described the situation as regrettable and stemming from ignorance.

“The situation that has arisen is very regrettable. My understanding is that there was no malice, but rather that the situation emerged from ignorance within the municipal association.”

He stated that the leaflet was created without sufficient knowledge of the Muslim-related LVU campaign. “When this leaflet was produced, there was no significant awareness of the national disinformation campaign.”

According to Larsson, the district acted immediately when they became aware of the material. “When we in the district were notified about the leaflet, we contacted the municipal association immediately to ensure it would not continue to be distributed.”

He also emphasized that the local party association realized that their campaign had gone wrong. “Locally, there is an understanding that a mistake was made, and there is regret over what happened. The matter will not be pursued further.”

Lars Larsson says he sees the expulsion of Stina Isaksson as a great loss that “leaves a void” for the party locally. However, he states that he “respects the party board’s decision.”

Wanted to Highlight the Issue of State Care

When the campaign was launched, Isaksson defended the message and argued that the aim was to highlight children’s right to grow up with their families as much as possible, and to strengthen trust in social services.

– It is a clear, impactful message, as is often the case in political campaigning. We want children to be able to live at home with their parents as much as possible. There are people who literally leave this country and go back home with their children because they are afraid of social services. We need to get better and improve the way we work, she said at the time.

READ MORE: SD campaigns about social services – wants to highlight children’s right to stay with their families

She also argued that the issue of forced placements needs to be open for discussion.

– Doesn’t social services, on many occasions, take children into care? The police come in and traumatize children for life. I have met retirees who still have not processed being taken from their families as children. It is a problem.

The affair has now reached its final conclusion. After the party board’s decision, Stina Isaksson is no longer a member of the Sweden Democrats, but she intends to keep her political assignments as an independent until the end of the year.