Jonas Viktor Göran Åkerlund (born 21January 1949) is a Swedish politician who was

Member of the Riksdag Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the Riksdag. In Swedish, an MP is us ...

from 2010 to 2018 and first deputy party leader for the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

from 2006 to 2015. He also served as the party's press spokesman.

Work

Åkerlund was born in Lingbo in Ockelbo Municipality. He worked for several years as an

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks o ...

at a family funeral business before his election to parliament.Riksdagens protokoll 2010/11:1 Måndagen den 4 oktober
Sveriges riksdags webbplats. Läst 16 juli 2021.\ He started his political career in the Social Democrats party in the 1970s. In 1985, he changed party affiliation to the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

and from 1988 to 1991 he was the leading member of that party in the

Ockelbo Municipality Ockelbo Municipality () is a municipality in Gävleborg County, in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Ockelbo. The present municipality was formed in 1971 through the amalgamation of "old" ''Ockelbo'' with ''Skog''. Localities * Lingbo ...

. In 1995 he became a member of the Sweden Democrats. He was the party's press secretary from 2004 to 2005, and in 2005 he also worked as the party's press spokesperson. Åkerlund was elected second vice party president for SD in 2005 and vice party president in 2006. In the 2002 general elections, Åkerlund was candidate for the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

as no. 16 on the SD list and first on the list in the Stockholm regional elections. He was also first on the list for SD in the Stockholm elections. In the 2006 general elections, Åkerlund was a candidate for SD for the Riksdag as the fourth choice, for Stockholm regional election as no. 9, and for Stockholm city council as no. 12 on the ballot. In the parish council elections in 2009 he was the party's number one candidate in the election to the Swedish Church Convocation, and as no. 7 in the

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

congregation election. Åkerlund was voted into the Riksdag in the general elections in 2010, for the

Blekinge Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in seat no. 90. As a member of the Riksdag he became member of Committee on the Constitution, and deputy member of the Committee on Business and Industry. He announced he would not seek another term in office ahead of the

2018 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Gr ...

Controversy

In 2013 Åkerlund gained attention after a recording of him was discovered dating from 2002 in which he called immigrants "parasites" during a broadcast on SD's own radio station. In the same recording he made jokes about sending half a million home and suggested most immigrants lied on their residency applications. After his remarks had become more publicly known in 2013, he stated that he had said them to provoke people but described his words as "immature" and claimed "I said an awful lot of things at the time that I don't stand behind at all today." In 2014 he was criticised by SD party leader

Jimmie Åkesson Per Jimmie Åkesson (; born 17 May 1979) is a Swedish politician and author, serving as leader of the Sweden Democrats since 2005. He has been a member of the Riksdag (SD) for Jönköping County (Riksdag constituency), Jönköping County since ...

after he was seen acting in a threatening manner towards a female journalist in the Riksdag.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Åkerlund, Jonas 1949 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Members of the Riksdag from the Sweden Democrats Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 People from Ockelbo Municipality