SD member of parliament criticizes his own party after row in parliament
Rashid Farivar, a member of parliament for the Sweden Democrats (SD), is now criticizing his own party. The criticism concerns how the party acted during a recent important vote in the Riksdag. Farivar believes that the party did not follow the unwritten rules and agreements that normally exist between the various parties.
The background to the conflict is the so-called pairing system. It is a voluntary system where parties agree that certain members will not vote if someone from another party is absent. This is done so that the balance of power in parliament remains the same even if politicians are sick or traveling. During a vote on financial support for politicians, SD chose to break this agreement.
Rashid Farivar believes it was wrong of his party to act in that way. He argues that it damages trust between the parties in parliament and makes cooperation more difficult. According to Farivar, it is important to keep one's promises and follow common rules, even in situations where a political issue is considered very important.
The vote itself concerned transition allowances, which is money that members of parliament receive when they leave their positions. The Sweden Democrats wanted to change the rules and felt the issue was so important that they had to vote with all their members. The party leadership has defended the decision, stating that they wanted to listen to the will of the voters on this particular issue.
The incident has created an unusual situation where an individual member openly criticizes his own party's leadership. It has also led to a debate on how the work of the Riksdag should function in the future. It remains to be seen whether the incident will affect how other parties choose to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats going forward.