Sweden Democrats

The Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna [ˈsvæ̂rjɛdɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] , SD [ˈɛ̂sːdeː] ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2023, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing bloc and the second-largest party in the Riksdag. It provides confidence and supply to the right-wing ruling coalition. Within the European Union, the party is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.

The party describes itself as social conservative with a nationalist foundation. The party has also been variously characterised by universities, political commentators, and international media as economic nationalist, national-conservative, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-gender, Eurosceptic, and right-wing or far-right. The Sweden Democrats reject the far-right label, saying that it no longer represents its political beliefs. Among the party's founders, original leadership and early members were several people that had previously been active in white nationalist and neo-Nazi political parties and organizations. Under the leadership of Jimmie Åkesson since 2005, the SD underwent a process of reform by expelling hardline members and moderating its beliefs, building on a work that had begun during the late 1990s and early 2000s when the party began to distance itself from neo-Nazi activism and sought to position its image as a more mainstream party. Today, the SD officially rejects fascism and Nazism on their platform and since 2012 claims to have maintained a zero-tolerance policy against "extremists", "lawbreakers", and "racists". In 2025, the SD issued an official apology for its previous links to neo-Nazism during its early years.