Swedish Party Leader Calls for Change in Constitution in Case Populists Win Election

Swedish Centre Party leader Annie Lööf wants to change the country’s constitution in case of an election victory for the populist Sweden Democrats (SD).

Ms Lööf stated that her party wants to change the Swedish constitution in several ways to prevent the Sweden Democrats from changing the country, citing actions by conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn’s Fidesz party and the Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party.

“We must not be naïve about the fact that the country’s third-largest party is inspired by countries where we are now seeing the dismantling of fundamental foundations of liberal democracy from within,” Lööf said, newspaper Aftonbladet reports.

“The Center Party wants to reduce the vulnerability of Swedish democracy. We see that our European neighbours have gradually reduced the foundations of liberal democracy after a number of right-wing nationalist parties came to power. For the Centre Party, it is crucial that we strengthen the constitution,” she added.

According to the Centre Party, the Swedish constitution is too easy to amend and wants to make the process more difficult, including requiring a qualified majority (often between 60-75 per cent), rather than a simple majority of 50 per cent plus one, in the Swedish parliament on constitutional changes.

Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats, wrote for Aftonbladet: “It is clear that Annie Lööf does not understand, or more likely pretend not to understand, who the Sweden Democrats are or what we want.”

A call for such drastic change to prevent or hinder the work of populist parties has also been seen recently in France when a former top French civil servant suggested changing the way France votes to stop a victory by populist Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential election.

Philippe Lazar, a former senior civil servant, said in April that France should hold its parliamentary elections before the presidential election to decrease the likelihood of a Le Pen win. French parliamentary elections are typically held around a month after the presidential election.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com