New Democracy (Sweden)

New Democracy (Sweden)

New Democracy (Swedish: Ny Demokrati, NyD) was a political party in Sweden, founded in 1991 and elected into the Swedish Parliament in its first election, falling equally fast out again in 1994.

New Democracy successfully campaigned on an agenda of reform and, although not nationalist, restricted immigration (initially on economic grounds rather than cultural). Its economic policy, stressing the importance of entrepreneurship and deregulation, was generally perceived as centre-right policies. The party furthermore favored a Swedish application for European Union membership (attained in 1995), a position almost unique for European populist parties. It also called for wide-scale political reform, including cutting government departments, reducing Parliament to 151 members and electing Prime Minister by direct ballot rather than through the Riksdag. Following its exit from Parliament, New Democracy however continued its decline, which culminated in 2000 when it was finally declared bankrupt, retaining only one city council post at the time (until 2002). Numerous local fractions were reformed into minor parties (such as Sjöbopartiet), facing mixed success.

Until the entrance of the Sweden Democrats in Parliament in 2010, these years were the only time a "populist" party had been represented in the Swedish Parliament. While the mainstream political establishment accused the party of populism and xenophobia, later research has found that much of the party's then-controversial immigration policies, generally calling for reducing the financial costs of migration, have largely has been implemented in Sweden with little controversy.