Jimmie Åkesson now defends the Sweden Democrats’ actions during the much-discussed parliamentary vote on tightening Swedish citizenship rules. After accusations of a ‘coup’ and ‘cheating’, the SD leader claims the party acted to ensure the vote reflected the election outcome. At the same time, questions are mounting about the opposition’s contact with independent MPs before the vote.

On X, Jimmie Åkesson responds to criticism following Wednesday’s dramatic vote, where SD summoned two MPs who were meant to be absent under a pairing agreement, thereby securing a majority for the government’s position.

He argues that the opposition’s descriptions of the event as a coup are exaggerations and ‘part of the game’, but that the fundamental principle must be that parliamentary votes should align with the voters’ will.

– Parliamentary votes should reflect the election result. That must be a reasonable starting point, Åkesson writes.

He refers to the pairing system, where parties voluntarily abstain from votes to compensate for absent members, claiming that the system was abused by the opposition, not SD.

– The opposition uses independent MPs to hijack the system and overthrow the government’s proposal, he writes.

READ MORE: ETC and the left celebrated victory in advance – published an article about winning before the vote was decided

Åkesson also claims that the alternative would have been for up to 100,000 people to be covered by the old, ’embarrassingly low requirements’ for citizenship, which would harm Sweden.

Widding confirms contact with Hirvonen

A central question after the vote has been whether the opposition secured support in advance from independent MPs. Elsa Widding states in an interview with Expressen that Annika Hirvonen contacted her before the vote.

According to Widding, Hirvonen asked how she was planning to vote and sent over material in the form of the government bill referral. However, Widding denies that any formal agreement was reached and says she made up her own mind after researching the matter.

At the same time, she directs strong criticism at the SD group leadership, calling their decision to break pairing a threat to parliament’s democratic rules.

Nyberg denies cooperation

The other former SD MP, Katja Nyberg, completely rejects claims of cooperation with the opposition. On X she writes:

– I have not cooperated with the Green Party. I voted based on my own assessment in a single issue about transitional rules and legally certain legislation.

She adds that the fact that different parties sometimes reach the same outcome does not constitute cooperation.

Unpublished ETC article raises questions

After the vote, a quickly unpublished article from Dagens ETC has also attracted much attention.

In the text, published before the vote’s final outcome, Hirvonen was quoted saying she had secured ‘the entire opposition and six of the independent MPs’, including the former SD MPs Widding and Nyberg.

Image: Screenshot from ETC’s unpublished article.

The article contained details about how the government’s proposal would fail and comments from Hirvonen that suggest foreknowledge of the outcome. This has led to speculation that support from the independents was secured even before the vote.

ALSO READ: SD defectors betrayed their old party – tried to stop tougher citizenship requirements

Hirvonen has later said that she knew Widding would likely support the opposition’s line, but did not know that Nyberg would do the same.

Political battle over the rules of the game

The event has triggered a larger conflict over parliamentary working methods. The government side claims the opposition tried to create a ‘false majority’ by counting in independent MPs, while the opposition thinks SD undermined the pairing system by summoning members at the last moment.

The row now risks having consequences far beyond just the citizenship issue – and could spark new discussions about how the pairing system should work in future, and whether independent MPs should be allowed.

READ MORE: Dagerlind: The little coup that restored the big order