Jimmie Åkesson

He has led the Sweden Democrats, described by Wikipedia as right-wing to far-right, since 2005 and has sat in the Riksdag for Jönköping County since 2010. He is named as a candidate for Prime Minister of Sweden in the 2026 election.

Career

Åkesson studied political science, law, economics, human geography and philosophy at Lund University from 1999 without taking a degree, and co-founded a web design company. He joined the Sweden Democrats in 1995 after leaving the Moderate youth league, became a Sölvesborg municipal councillor in 1998, and chaired Sweden Democratic Youth from 2000 to 2005. He has led the party since 2005. In 2010 it entered the Riksdag with 5.70 percent and 20 seats, in 2018 it won 17.6 percent and 62 seats, and in 2022 it became the second-largest party. Wikipedia reports that in the 2026 election the party's share fell for the first time.

Positions

Åkesson describes himself as a Swedish nationalist and social conservative. Wikipedia says he advocates defending Swedish culture against mass migration and moved the party's rhetoric from ethnic nationalism to cultural preservation built on the idea of the people's home (folkhemmet). Wikipedia lists the Sweden Democrats' ideology as national conservatism, right-wing populism and Euroscepticism; the party itself rejects the far-right label.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Wikipedia

Photo: Poltikerveckan Almedalen, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)