Christian Democrat in anti-Islamist Facebook rant

Göran Jonzon, second in the party’s candidate list for the municipal council in Vilhelmina in the far north of Sweden, wrote on Facebook that the best way to prevent child marriage was to “buy weapons for those who want to battle Islamism”. 

 

“A dead Islamist needs no child bride,” he wrote, before complaining that aid money sent to people in the Middle East all too often ended up in the hands of Islamist extremists. 

 

“The only thing that touches these crazies is metal traveling at high velocity,” he added.  

 

Anders Sellström, the party’s chairman in Sweden’s Västerbotten county, moved immediately to distance himself from Jonzon’s comments. 

 

“We do not tolerate such statements and we do not wish to be associated with them,” he told the Aftonbladet newspaper. 

 

Ronny Thellbro, the party’s local chairman in Vilhelmina, also agreed that the statement was “unsuitable”. 

 

“I know Göran and am aware that from time to time he can be pretty fiery," he said. "This is the worst I’ve seen. It’s of course nothing either I or the local party can support.” 

 

In a Facebook post made before Aftenposten's article was published, Jonzon said that his statements had in fact been in line with the policy of Sweden's centre-left government. 

 

"I apologise if my choice of words came across as much too strong, but what I meant was that it would be better to send weapons to those who want to fight Islamists," he said. "That is precisely in line with the Swedish parliament's decision to support the military alliance as the only way to to put an end to terrorism."

 

 

According to the newspaper, Jonzon has recently been calling on Facebook for the Christian Democrats, the smallest party in Sweden’s four-party centre-right Alliance Bloc, to form a majority coalition government with the populist Sweden Democrat party.