Sweden Democrats could get 45 million

The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats' success in local elections will entitle the party to at least 45 million kronor annually in local party aid, in addition to the state support granted to parties with more than 2.5 percent of the votes in a general election.

Published: 21 September 2006 16:49 CEST

The Sweden Democrats have seen support increase strongly in certain local authorities. Calls made by Svenska Dagbladet to the 84 municipal and county councils in which the party won seats showed that it would be entitled to local financial support of 45 million kronor.

This figure could rise further because the figure is regularly adjusted to take account of inflation.The Party Support Authority is in charge of calculating state funding for political parties.

So far the Sweden Democrats have been financed by member donations and by local party aid from the areas in which it is already represented. Party leader Jimmy Åkesson said it raised 7-9 million kronor for the election campaign using these means.

Åkesson is currently the party’s only employee. He claims that he is paid 12,000 kronor per month. The state support will go towards employing administrative staff.