1979 Swedish general election

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1979 Swedish general election
Flag of Sweden.svg
  1976 16 September 1979 1982  

All 349 seats in the Riksdag
175 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Olof Palme 1974 (cropped).jpg Gosta Bohman (1967).jpg Falldin.JPG
Leader Olof Palme Gösta Bohman Thorbjörn Fälldin
Party Social Democrats Moderate Centre
Last election1525586
Seats won1547364
Seat changeIncrease2.svg2Increase2.svg18Decrease2.svg22
Popular vote2,356,2341,108,406984,589
Percentage43.24%20.34%18.07%
SwingIncrease2.svg0.49 pp Increase2.svg4.75 pp Decrease2.svg6.01 pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Ola Ullsten.JPG Bundesarchiv Bild 183-N0701-023, Berlin, Erich Honecker, Lars Werner cropped.jpg
Leader Ola Ullsten Lars Werner
Party People's Party Left Communists
Last election3917
Seats won3820
Seat changeDecrease2.svg1Increase2.svg3
Popular vote577,063305,420
Percentage10.59%5.61%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.47 pp Increase2.svg0.86 pp

Riksdagsvalet 1979.svg
Map of the election, showing the distribution of constituency and levelling seats, as well as the largest political bloc within each constituency.

PM before election

Ola Ullsten
People's Party

Elected PM

Thorbjörn Fälldin
Centre

General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1979. [1] Although the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 154 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag, [2] the liberal interim government of Ola Ullsten was succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, the Moderate Party and the Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin. The three parties together won 175 seats, compared to the 174 won by the Social Democrats and Communists. It was the only time that non-socialist parties retained power in an election between 1928 and 2010. The Moderates dramatically increased their representation in the Riksdag, becoming the largest party of the non-socialist bloc, a position they maintained until 2022.

Contents

Despite the unexpected victory, the coalition split in 1981 when the Moderates withdrew support in protest at Fälldin's tax policies, which they viewed as "too leftist". Despite not being the leader of the coalition party with the most seats, Fälldin had been the designate Prime Minister since his earlier resignation in 1978, upon disagreement over the question of nuclear power.

Debates

1979 Swedish general election debates
DateTimeOrganizersModerators P  Present   I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee 
S M C L V Refs
Sveriges Television Ingemar Odlander P
Olof Palme
P
Gösta Bohman
P
Thorbjörn Fälldin
P
Ola Ullsten
P
Lars Werner
[3]

Results

Sweden Riksdag 1979.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party 2,356,23443.24154+2
Moderate Party 1,108,40620.3473+18
Centre Party 984,58918.0764–22
People's Party 577,06310.5938–1
Left Party Communists 305,4205.6120+3
Christian Democratic Unity 75,9931.3900
Communist Party 10,8620.2000
Workers Party Communists 10,7250.200New
Other parties19,3460.3600
Total5,448,638100.003490
Valid votes5,448,63899.43
Invalid/blank votes31,4880.57
Total votes5,480,126100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,040,46190.72
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
By partyBy coalition
S M C F V RightLeft
Älvsborg North 9422154
Älvsborg South 8322153
Blekinge 6311133
Bohus 11432274
Fyrstadskretsen 21962311110
Gävleborg 137131158
Gothenburg 1975232109
Gotland 21111
Halland 10423164
Jämtland 53223
Jönköping 13533285
Kalmar 10522155
Kopparberg 136231167
Kristianstad11532165
Kronoberg 732243
Malmöhus11532165
Norrbotten 116121147
Örebro 126221157
Östergötland 178332189
Skaraborg 10423164
Södermanland 11622156
Stockholm County 331394431716
Stockholm Municipality 311193441615
Uppsala 104221155
Värmland 126221157
Västerbotten 105121146
Västernorrland 126131157
Västmanland 115221156
Total34915473643820175174
Source: Statistics Sweden

By municipality

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1858 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1873
  3. Slutdebatter – Partiledardebatt (in Swedish), Sweden Sveriges Television AB, Stockholm, retrieved 2024-01-29