The decision to contest the elections was passed by a large majority of those attending the party’s extra congress assembled in Umeå in northern Sweden on Saturday, writes the party on its home page.
The party’s main spokesperson Gudrun Schyman announced in January that FI intended to contest the two upcoming elections.
“I think that we have good chances of succeeding in the EU elections, where many voters feel freer in relation to block politics. There is a great need of feminists in EU politics, where the huge male dominance means that women’s issues are forgotten and photo sessions often resemble a parade of ties,” said Gudrun Schyman at the congress in Umeå.
Much of the debate at the party’s congress concerned the practical problems of contesting the elections. The party has very limited finances, no employees and few sources of income.
“We are going to conduct a campaign with limited resources, which means that we will have to be creative in finding new ways to communicate with voters,” said Schyman.
In the previous Swedish parliamentary elections in 2006 FI gained 37,954 votes, corresponding to 0.68 percent.