The left-wing newspaper ETC published an article on Wednesday afternoon claiming that the Tidö government had lost a historic vote on stricter requirements for Swedish citizenship—even before the voting had concluded. When it later became clear that the government side had actually won the vote, the article was unpublished. At the same time, the article’s content raises questions about possible prior contacts between the opposition and the political defectors who voted against the government.

It was on Wednesday that the Riksdag voted on the opposition’s demand for transitional rules related to the government’s tightened citizenship legislation. The vote turned dramatic and ended with the opposition’s line falling by a margin of 147–146 after Sweden Democrats (SD) MPs Michael Rubbestad and Charlotte Quensel were called in, despite having originally been paired out.

But prior to this, Dagens ETC had already published a victory headline: “Tidö government loses historic vote on citizenship.”

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The article was time-stamped at 16:08 and stated as fact that the government had lost the vote: “For the first time during this term, the Tidö government loses a vote in the Riksdag.”

Below is an excerpt from the ETC article:

Furthermore, the article stated: “This was after a majority in the chamber voted against the proposal for stricter requirements for citizenship.”

When it later became clear that the government side after all had won the vote, the article was unpublished. This has raised questions about why ETC published a definitive outcome before the vote had concluded—and what information the editorial team possessed ahead of time.

Hirvonen: “Gathered the entire opposition and six of the political defectors”

Particularly noteworthy wording in the article concerned Annika Hirvonen, who was interviewed by the newspaper. ETC wrote: “Hirvonen states she brought with her the entire opposition and six of the political defectors…” against the government’s proposal.

“It’s just enormous,” boasted the Green Party leader about cooperating with SD defectors.

This indicates that the opposition was not solely relying on independent stances from the defected MPs/‘wildcards’, but that there had been active probing or coordination ahead of the vote.

SD Defectors Pointed Out

The article from the left-wing newspaper explicitly mentioned the former SD MPs Elsa Widding and Katja Nyberg: “…but also the two ex-Sweden Democrats Elsa Widding and Katja Nyberg, who left SD to start the new party Ambition Sweden.”

Earlier information had indicated that Widding and Nyberg had independently chosen to oppose the government’s proposal. ETC’s wording, however, suggests their votes were part of an organized opposition strategy.

If that were the case, it raises questions concerning the extent to which the opposition had sought support in advance from MPs holding mandates won for the Sweden Democrats.

SD Changed the Game

What ultimately upended the opposition’s plan was that the Sweden Democrats called in two previously paired-out MPs to neutralize the defectors’ votes. As a result, the opposition’s attempt to defeat the government side on the issue failed.

Once the result was clear, ETC’s article, which had asserted that the Tidö government would lose, disappeared.

Questions That Remain

The incident now raises several questions. Had the opposition secured support ahead of time from the political defectors? Had ETC received information about an expected outcome before the vote had been held? Why was the article unpublished rather than corrected or updated? What role did Widding and Nyberg play in the opposition’s strategy?

Samnytt is seeking Green Party leader Annika Hirvonen, former SD politicians Elsa Widding and Katja Nyberg, as well as Andreas Gustavsson, Editor-in-Chief of Dagens ETC. None of them have responded as of this writing.

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