Elsa Widding, former Member of Parliament for the Sweden Democrats and now a political dissident, made a name for herself in the climate debate a few years ago and was subsequently recruited by the Sweden Democrats, where she secured a well-paid parliamentary seat. Since then, she has left the party line, become independent, and started a new party—all the while still holding her seat in parliament on an SD mandate. She has now stirred reactions in Sweden-friendly circles after what many claim is collaboration with the Green Party’s group leader Annika Hirvonen to push for softer transitional rules as citizenship requirements are tightened.
On Wednesday, the parliament voted on the opposition’s demand for transitional rules linked to the government’s tightened citizenship legislation. The vote was dramatic and ended with the opposition’s position losing by 147–146, after SD MPs Michael Rubbestad and Charlotte Quensel were called in, despite initially being paired out.
However, before that, the left-wing paper Dagens ETC had already published a victory headline: “Tidö government loses historic vote on citizenship.”
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The article continued: “This after a majority in the chamber voted against the proposal for stricter citizenship requirements.” When it later became clear that the government side had nevertheless won the vote, the article was unpublished.
In the same pre-written article from ETC, it was claimed that the Green Party’s group leader Annika Hirvonen had secured the support of SD independents Elsa Widding and Katja Nyberg for their line. That they would vote with the opposition instead of representing the voters and policies of their former party—which both are elected on and receive SEK 81,400 for.
“It’s absolutely incredible,” boasted the Green Party leader in ETC about securing the SD independents’ support before the vote even took place.
Expressen reported on Thursday that Elsa Widding confirmed having had phone contact with the Green Party top Annika Hirvonen. At the same time, she stated that she independently formed her own opinion on the issue and advocates for softer transitional rules when citizenship requirements are tightened.
“She kindly asked how I would vote. I said I was still looking into the issue and asked if Annika Hirvonen had the government bill. She did, and she sent it over. That was about it. I read things and thought for myself,” Widding explained, trying to soften the context of her decision the following day.
But the outcome was not as ETC and the opposition had expected, but rather a success for the government side and the Sweden Democrats after the party called in two previously paired out MPs. Thus, the defectors’ votes were neutralized, and the opposition’s attempt to defeat the proposal in the vote failed.
Widding Faced Harsh Criticism
On Thursday morning, Swebbtv broadcast a program with Elsa Widding in the studio. During the broadcast, several figures from the Sweden-friendly camp joined in to criticize her. The program lasted for just over two hours and the tone was at times sharp.
During the program, Elsa Widding was asked by host Boris Benulic whether it isn’t good to try to slow down developments in Sweden regarding mass immigration by “throwing a spanner in the works.”
Ambition Sweden’s leader and former SD politician answered no to that question. She instead emphasized that one must primarily base their efforts on the principles of the rule of law if one wants to stop immigration.
Samnytt’s veteran Mats Dagerlind also joined the same program by phone starting at timestamp 53:11 and did not hold back in his criticism of the former SD politician.
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Alongside Dagerlind, citizen journalist Christian Peterson and former SD MP Jeff Ahl also participated in the discussion and delivered highly critical comments on Widding’s actions.