Sweden Democrats had 'violent pasts'
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Published: 25 Sep, 2014 CET.
Updated: Thu 25 Sep 2014 16:24 CET
Several regionally elected Sweden Democrats were revealed on Thursday to have previous convictions for violent crimes.
During Sweden's election on September 14th, dozens of Sweden Democrats were nominated by open ballot in the regional areas of Örebro and Västmanland, meaning voters were allowed to write any name on a ballot paper rather than select people from a list. For the party's 101 seats in the areas, 34 of the nominees were selected in this manner - and several of these have violent histories, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) has revealed. Three of them were convicted for assault, one for aggravated drink driving and drug crimes, while another was sentenced for blackmail and fraud. 
Furthermore, some had ties to white supremacy forums online, SVT reported. But Jonas Millard, the regional party chairman, said that the nominees were unlikely to end up being allowed to take up the positions. "When it comes to aggravated crimes, and especially when they occurred recently, you'll not pass the character test," he told the broadcaster. Nationally, the Sweden Democrats doubled their support in the September elections, becoming the third biggest party in the country with 12.9 percent of the votes.
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During Sweden's election on September 14th, dozens of Sweden Democrats were nominated by open ballot in the regional areas of Örebro and Västmanland, meaning voters were allowed to write any name on a ballot paper rather than select people from a list.
For the party's 101 seats in the areas, 34 of the nominees were selected in this manner - and several of these have violent histories, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) has revealed.
Three of them were convicted for assault, one for aggravated drink driving and drug crimes, while another was sentenced for blackmail and fraud.
Furthermore, some had ties to white supremacy forums online, SVT reported.
But Jonas Millard, the regional party chairman, said that the nominees were unlikely to end up being allowed to take up the positions.
"When it comes to aggravated crimes, and especially when they occurred recently, you'll not pass the character test," he told the broadcaster.
Nationally, the Sweden Democrats doubled their support in the September elections, becoming the third biggest party in the country with 12.9 percent of the votes.
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