From Eric Dondero:

The Swedish Democrats have been gaining in recent polls. They could play a vital role if the election is tight, as is expected, between the Center Right and Center Left.

From the AP (Stockholm):

Jimmie Akesson is running for Parliament, preaching sharp cuts in immigration and calling Islam the greatest threat to Swedish society.

polls are predicting gains for Akesson's far-right Sweden Democrats that could give them a king-maker role in national elections this year if neither mainstream bloc wins an outright majority.

Opinion polls show the Sweden Democrats could get 4 to 6 percent of votes in the September election, enough to win 15-20 seats in the 349-member Riksdag and potentially throw Swedish politics into disarray.

Rightist, but Pro-Israel, and Pro-Tolerance

Akesson (photo below) and his Party are routinely described as "Far Right." Ironically though, they are both Pro-Israel in foreign policy and on social matters for maintaining Sweden's tradition of free speech rights and sexual tolerance.

For example, the Democrats are the biggest defenders of Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who has been continually harassed, beaten and even had his house set on fire, over depictions of Muhammed.

Akesson also points to attacks against artist Lars Vilks, who drew the prophet Muhammad with a dog's body. Last month furious protesters chanting "God is Great" in Arabic disrupted Vilks' guest lecture at Uppsala University and vandals tossed firebombs at his home.

Sweden has also been known to be a sexually permissive society. However, with the onslaught of Muslim immigrants, moral repression is beginning to be seen. Continuing:

What worries many Swedes is the clustering of immigrants in neighborhoods with nicknames such as "Little Baghdad." Few native Swedes ever set foot in these districts, viewing them as dangerous slums infested with criminal gangs and Islamic fundamentalists.

In the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, aka "Little Mogadishu," a 20-year-old Somali woman in a black head scarf says: "Not even a non-Muslim dares to walk around with a short skirt in Rinkeby." She doesn't give her name for fear of neighbors' reaction.

Akkeson is staunchly anti-racist and has expelled members who show the slightest hint of bigotry:

Swedishness is not in your skin color or in any part of the body. It's in your values and how you behave," Akesson said.

In fact two leaders of the Democrats are the brothers Kent and Ted Ekeroth, (Ted is far right in the photo). The Ekeroths are Jewish. They are expected to hold seats in Parliament if the Democrats crack the 3% support threshold needed to be considered a major party.

Mildly libertarian on economics

While generally free enterprise on economic stances, the Democrats are more pragmatic than libertarian. They support tax cuts, but also maintaining Sweden's extensive welfare state.

From The Local, Sweden's English News, June 1:

Sweden's small far-right Sweden Democrat (SD) party presented a shadow budget on Monday pledging lower taxes and higher benefits, to be financed by cutting international aid and refugee quotas.

The party said their first shadow budget would "re-establish Swedish welfare and at the same time lower taxes."

The budget "mainly involves reallocating the funds of the expensive immigration policy and ineffective development aid to necessary welfare and safety commitments, and raising direct assistance to real refugees in the world," it said.

The party proposed cutting the number of refugees allowed into Sweden, along with immigration by relatives of foreigners, by 90 percent.

It also called for slashing Sweden's direct development aid...