Åkesson questions whether Busch can be trusted after election

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson has questioned whether Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch can be trusted after the election, SVT News reports.

Busch has said she could allow Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson to become prime minister in the event of “war, crisis and an exceptional situation”. Åkesson said this worried him.

“It is obvious that Ebba has had some kind of strategy of flirting to the left,” he told SVT News.

Åkesson made the comments during his traditional summer speech in Sölvesborg, Blekinge, on Saturday. He highlighted policies that the Sweden Democrats had secured with the other Tidö parties over the past four years, particularly on crime and immigration.

He also repeated the Sweden Democrats’ call for a public register of convicted paedophiles, which he described as a “paedophile map” similar to one recently launched by Dumpen.

Turning to Busch’s “flirting to the left”, Åkesson questioned whether it was really only a strategy.

“Can Ebba Busch be trusted, or does a vote for the Christian Democrats risk becoming a vote for Magdalena?” he asked.

Åkesson also referred to Busch’s statement in a new interview with TT that she could only consider supporting Andersson as prime minister in the event of “war, crisis and an exceptional situation”.

“What is an exceptional situation? Is it that our side of politics does not win a majority in the election? Would she then sit down for negotiations with Magdalena Andersson and the Centre Party? I need to know that,” he said.

SVT News said it had contacted the Christian Democrats for comment.