pic: expressen.se
The Liberal, Green, Center, Left and Moderate parties along with SD have all had their congresses and the turn has finally come for the Christian Democratic party (Kristdemokraterna) to have theirs, a riksting, now taking place in Umeå.
Since the election in September of last year, support for KD has taken a nosedive, from over 12 % to under 7%. Many have attributed the decrease to when it was revealed that their number one representative in EU, and big party name, Lars Adaktusson voted against pro-choice legislation at the EU – not just once, but repeatedly. Adaktusson’s excuse that he was actually only voting against other issues tacked onto the legislation, not against abortion per se, didn’t cut it with many voters. Their support decrease has also been attributed to KD’s strong support for asylum seekers’ ability to bring over their family members to Sweden (SvD.se/KD).
So far at the congress, Adaktusson has been switched out from his position as second vice chair (although he’ll still be a representative in parliament): They have maintained ever since the scandal came out that a woman’ right to choose has never, ever been a question. As far as refugees bringing over family members (familjåterförening), KD is now taking a harder line, saying that in order to bring family over, the person in Sweden must prove that they can support them economically .
New proposals discussed at the congress also include supporting a language test as well as a so called civics (samhällskunskap) test that need to be passed in order to qualify for permanent residency and/or citizenship. For many people, this is considered a completely unreasonable thing to ask of refugees: Among other reasons, many people believe that immigrants should not have to face a test that other people in the country have not had to face. Having to pass a language test is an old proposal that the Liberal party tried to get support for back in 2002, but which failed badly. One of the parties against the language test back then was the Christian Democrats, arguing that you didn’t need to speak Swedish to be a good citizen (SvD.se/language).
Times have clearly changed. In this round, Soheila Fors, a representative from the women’s caucus, argued that an immigrant can’t be successful, get a job, or learn what human rights or democracy is about if they can’t speak the language. “We get put into an aquarium” she argued “and are fed by welfare services” (DN.se/KD). In this vein, KD is also in favor of narrowing the right to have the services of a publicly financed interpreter after having lived five years in the country.
The congress continues on Sunday. A debate over allowing begging, as well as the final decisions regarding the above questions, is expected.