The Nyans (Nuance) Party is going into the election with a threat on its campaign posters: “Don’t test our patience.” is the message intended to persuade the country’s Muslims to vote the party into the Riksdag.

The Sweden Democrats’ demand for a national ban on hijabs in public places is meeting strong protests among Muslims in Sweden and has become one of the first major points of conflict ahead of the 2026 election campaign. Now the Nyans Party is escalating its rhetoric and launching a campaign with the message: “Don’t test our patience.”

The message appears on election posters aimed at Muslim voters and is presented as a call to mobilize politically against proposals that the party believes threaten the rights of Muslims in Sweden.

Photo: Screenshot Facebook/Mikail Yüksel

Nyans party leader Mikail Yüksel has for several years profiled himself as a strong critic of Swedish integration and migration policy, and has repeatedly claimed that Muslims are subjected to discrimination by authorities and established political parties.

“Time for us to speak out”

In a post on his Facebook page, Yüksel describes the Sweden Democrats’ campaign for women’s freedom as “dictatorial methods” and argues that a ban on the hijab is about “fascist control.”

“The Sweden Democrats’ proposal to ban headscarves in public places is nothing other than state control over women’s bodies and a step toward a totalitarian society. The ban is justified by claiming that headscarves are ‘Islamist garments,’ which is entirely consistent with the Islamophobic rhetoric that the Sweden Democrats and the Tidö government have escalated in recent years, where completely ordinary Muslim phenomena, garments and expressions are increasingly portrayed as a danger,” writes Yüksel.

“It is time for us to speak out with one voice.”

Party leader with links to the Grey Wolves

Yüksel compares the proposal for a hijab ban to “fascist control,” despite the fact that he himself was expelled from the Centre Party in 2018 following reports of contacts with the Turkish fascist movement the Grey Wolves. The movement has in several European countries been described as far-right and ultranationalist.

After his expulsion, Yüksel founded the Nyans Party, which has primarily focused on issues concerning Muslims, immigrants and minority groups in Sweden.

Characteristic of Yüksel’s and the Nyans Party’s statements is that anything involving questioning or limiting the wishes of Muslims is portrayed as Islamophobia, fascism and threats to democracy. This line of reasoning reappears when Yüksel writes about the current Sweden Democrat proposal:

“A democracy is characterized by individuals deciding for themselves how they dress, not by politicians exercising clothing control over certain demographic groups. The headscarf ban only applies to Muslims, doesn’t it? Or will the Sweden Democrats ban nuns’ veils as well?

If the Sweden Democrats get their way, we might as well tear up Swedish democracy altogether.”

Role in the LVU campaign

The Nyans Party attracted international attention in connection with the so-called LVU campaign in 2021–2022. Representatives of the party claimed that Swedish social services systematically took children away from Muslim families.

On social media, claims were spread that Swedish authorities kidnapped Muslim children and subjected them to assimilation by, among other things, serving them pork and alcohol. The campaign gained wide attention in several Muslim countries and led to diplomatic tensions for Sweden.

Swedish authorities and several fact-checking organizations dismissed the allegations as misleading or false, but the campaign continued to gain significant traction on social media.

Wants to remove the terrorist designation of Hamas

In this year’s election campaign, Nyans is promoting several controversial issues. Among other things, the party wants Sweden to work toward removing the terrorist designation of the Palestinian organization Hamas.

The party believes that Hamas – despite the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, despite Hamas’ repeated attacks on civilians, and despite Hamas’ stated goal of exterminating all Jews – should not be regarded as a terrorist organization, but as a dialogue partner.

Representation in two municipalities

The party has so far failed to enter the Riksdag, but has received a certain level of support in several elections in areas with a high proportion of voters with foreign backgrounds.

After the 2022 election, the party won seats in two municipal councils: in Botkyrka, where it won two seats, and in Landskrona, where it won one seat on the municipal council. Since then, the party has sought to build on its position as a voice for Sweden’s Muslims.