The Bonnier newspaper Södran claimed there was an alleged “incorrect reason” for the removal of the Sweden Democrats’ top candidate in Hedemora, Marit Andersson, citing the municipality’s election coordinator, who was said to have stated that the party’s candidate ballots “were available the entire time.” But when Samnytt confronts her with the quote, she refutes the claim and says the newspaper must have “made a mistake.” At the same time, she confirms what the party district in Dalarna previously stated: that there was a lack of candidate ballots for the parliamentary and regional election when advance voting began.
It was on Wednesday that the Bonnier newspaper “Södran” (Södra Dalarnes Tidning) reported that the Sweden Democrats’ top name in Hedemora, Marit Andersson, had been removed from the party’s ballot ahead of the election.
Andersson was herself taken aback by the news, which she described as “completely insane.”
– What have I done? I don’t understand, she told the newspaper.
The day after, today, the newspaper published what they claim is the reason for the removal: that she had failed to distribute candidate ballots for both the parliamentary and regional elections – due to bitterness against the party leadership in Dalarna.
“The candidate ballots were available the whole time”
The newspaper also broadcast that she was removed on what they call an “incorrect basis,” since Hedemora municipality’s election coordinator Oksana Lukina had said that “the candidate ballots were available the entire time.”
But what the newspaper does not explain is that there is a significant difference between party ballots and candidate ballots. Party ballots are blank ballots with only the party name.
The Election Act requires the municipality to provide party ballots for each party already represented in the municipal council. But the candidate ballots are the parties’ own responsibility to deliver.
Andersson told Södran that it was not true that she was responsible for handing over the candidate ballots. But when Samnytt reaches Rasmus Giertz, district chairman for SD Dalarna, he is clear.
– She received the candidate ballots for all three elections from the district with the explicit task of handing them over to the municipality, but only the municipal ballots were submitted, says Rasmus Giertz (SD) to Samnytt, and continues.
– When the district sought her to clarify what she had done with the ballots, she refused to respond.
Giertz also claims that the election coordinator, Lukina, had previously confirmed that candidate ballots for the Sweden Democrats were missing for the regional and parliamentary elections. He was therefore puzzled by her quote in the Södran newspaper.
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Election coordinator: “They must have written it wrong”
Samnytt called up Hedemora municipality’s election coordinator, Oksana Lukina, to ask about the quote in the newspaper and the conflicting claims about whether candidate ballots were on site on August 26 or not.
When we ask Lukina about the quote in the newspaper, that “the candidate ballots were available the entire time,” she replies that the quotation is incorrect.
– I have spoken with Södran because they must have written it wrong then, she tells Samnytt, and continues.
– The parties themselves are responsible for candidate ballots.
She continues to explain the difference between blank party ballots, which she confirms were available at the polling stations from the beginning, and candidate ballots, which the parties themselves submit.
She confirms to Samnytt that the candidate ballots for the regional and parliamentary elections were submitted to the municipality on September 1. These were thus missing from the time advance voting began, August 26. She is clear that the newspaper Södran reported incorrectly.
– Then they must have done so.
She also explains that the municipality received candidate ballots on August 26 and 27, but that the ballots for the regional and parliamentary elections were missing until the party district submitted them on September 1.
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Södran backtracks – sort of
According to email correspondence obtained by Samnytt, the newspaper Södran now claims to have “completely new information” from Oksana and maintains that she was “quoted correctly,” even though she herself claims the newspaper got it wrong.
They further state that a new article will be written based on the “completely new information.” But no apology to the party district is included.
Samnytt contacts Södran
When Samnytt calls the responsible journalist, Linda Eriksson Storbacka, who wrote the incorrect article, to confront them about why they are lying about what the election coordinator said in the interview, she does not want to answer. She claims that she and her co-author Anna Gunnarsson are “in an interview.”
We question why they answer the phone even though they are in the middle of an interview. They asked to call back later, but since then, the newsroom has been completely silent.
After Samnytt confronted Södran, the original article disappeared from their website – only to reappear later with a new headline.