The Nobel committee announced on Tuesday that the Sweden Democrats, the second-largest party in Stockholm’s parliament, could not be invited to the Nobel banquet, Reuters reported.

This year’s honorees, who include former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernack and French author Anne Hernaud, will be honored alongside a host of dignitaries at a lavish banquet in the Swedish capital on December 10.

Leaders of Swedish political parties are traditionally invited to the banquet, this year the laureates of the last two years will also be celebrated due to the fact that the ceremony was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the Nobel Foundation has repeatedly rejected the controversial Sweden Democrats and has maintained its position this year.

“The Nobel Prize is based on respect for science, culture, humanism and internationalism,” the Nobel Foundation said in a statement published on its website.

“This respect is also the basis for the achievements that are celebrated and highlighted when Nobel Laureates and guests from around the world are invited to the Nobel Prize Ceremony and Banquet on December 10,” the Nobel Foundation added in a statement.

An internal investigation commissioned by the current leadership of the Sweden Democrats found that 18 of the 22 members who founded the party in 1988 belonged to a white racist group called Keep Sweden Swedish. About 10 of them also had ties to fascist or neo-Nazi organizations.

Why are the Sweden Democrats so controversial?

The Sweden Democrats won 20.5% of the vote in September’s parliamentary elections, forming part of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right coalition government, but without portfolios in the Stockholm executive.

The new government’s cooperation with the Sweden Democrats has sparked outrage among the opposition, as all parties in Sweden have previously refused to cooperate with a party considered to be part of the far-right political spectrum.

This year, the Nobel Foundation also did not invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the awards banquet.

“The Nobel Foundation invites ambassadors to Sweden, but given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation has decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the Nobel Prize ceremony to be held in Stockholm,” she explained. issued a statement on Tuesday.

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