Jimmie Åkesson

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Jimmie Åkesson has been described as an 'alleged fascist' and has been leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats party since 2005.[1]

According to journalist Jake Wallis Simons in the Daily Telegraph, Åkesson maintains a 'carefully crafted image of professionalism' and has a 'farmer's boy' accent which reportedly helps him appeal to anti-elite feeling among some Swedish voters. He is said to have intensified the party's modernisation programme when he became leader (for instance changing the logo to a flower) in an an attempt to sanitise its far-right politics.[1]

Views

In January 2011, Åkesson told BBC Hardtalk that Sweden's immigration policy was 'extreme' and singled out 'Muslim immigrants', saying many 'segregating themselves into suburbs' and 'build parallel societies'.[2]

He also said:

Immigrants are, in general, a little bit more criminal than Swedes born in Sweden, and that's a fact. And you can see it especially in violence, rape and so on[2]

Social media

Twitter: @jimmieakesson Akesson had around 68,700 followers as of 17 February 2015

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jake Wallis Simons, EU elections 2014: 'I can hear the boots of the 1930s marching through Europe', Daily Telegraph, 14 May 2014
  2. 2.0 2.1 Jimmie Akesson: Swedish immigration is 'extreme', BBC Hardtalk, 25 January 2011, accessed 17 February 2015