Hard right leader aims for greater role in Swedish election

By KARL RITTER
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The longtime leader of the nationalist Sweden Democrats says he’s hoping for a stronger role as a “blow torch” in Swedish politics after next month’s elections, even if he doesn’t get a seat in the next government. Jimmie Akesson, who for almost two decades has sought to move his party from the far-right fringe toward the mainstream, has joined forces with a center-right opposition bloc in a bid to unseat the Social Democratic minority government led by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. Because of its far-right roots, Akesson’s party was treated as a pariah by all other parties when it first entered parliament in 2010, but now opposition parties are courting it as a possible coalition partner.