2006 Swedish general election

Last updated

2006 Swedish general election
Flag of Sweden.svg
  2002 17 September 2006 2010  

All 349 seats in the Riksdag
175 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Goran Persson, Sveriges statsminister, talar vid Nordiska radets session i Stockholm 2004 (1).jpg Fredrik Reinfeldt, statsminister Sverige, under Noriska radets session i Kopenhamn 2006.jpg Maud Olofsson Naringsminister och vice statsminister Sverige.jpg
Leader Göran Persson Fredrik Reinfeldt Maud Olofsson
Party Social Democrats Moderate Centre
Alliance The Alliance (Sweden) The Alliance
Last election1445522
Seats won1309729
Seat changeDecrease2.svg14Increase2.svg42Increase2.svg7
Popular vote1,942,6251,456,014437,389
Percentage34.99%26.23%7.88%
SwingDecrease2.svg4.86ppIncrease2.svg10.97ppIncrease2.svg1.69pp

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Lars Leijonborg, partiledare Folkpartiet liberalerna, Sverige (Bilden ar tagen vid Nordiska radets session i Oslo, 2003) (cropped).jpg Allians For Sverige IMG 2113 (4706198870) (cropped).jpg Lars Ohly, partiledare vansterpartiet, Sverige (cropped).jpg
Leader Lars Leijonborg Göran Hägglund Lars Ohly
Party Liberals Christian Democrats Left
Alliance The Alliance The Alliance
Last election483330
Seats won282422
Seat changeDecrease2.svg20Decrease2.svg9Decrease2.svg8
Popular vote418,395365,998324,722
Percentage7.54%6.59%5.85%
SwingDecrease2.svg5.85ppDecrease2.svg2.56ppDecrease2.svg2.54pp

 Seventh party
  Peter Eriksson and Maria Wetterstrand.jpg
Leader Peter Eriksson
Maria Wetterstrand
Party Green
Last election17
Seats won19
Seat changeIncrease2.svg2
Popular vote291,121
Percentage5.24%
SwingIncrease2.svg0.59pp

Swedish General Election 2006.png
Riksdagsvalet 2006.svg

Prime Minister before election

Göran Persson
Social Democrats

Elected Prime Minister

Fredrik Reinfeldt
Moderate

General elections were held in Sweden on 17 September 2006, to elect members to the Riksdag, the Swedish national legislature. All 349 seats were up for election: 310 fixed seats in 29 constituencies and 39 adjustment seats, used to ensure that parties have representation in the Riksdag proportional to their share of the national vote. The electoral system used was semi-open list proportional representation using the Sainte-Laguë method of allocating seats. Elections for County and Municipal councils were also held on the same day.

Contents

Fredrik Reinfeldt from the Moderate Party was able to form a majority government together with the Centre Party, Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats following the election. The Social Democrats were ousted after twelve years in power. It was the country's first majority government since the second Fälldin cabinet fell in 1981.

Reinfeldt reached out to working-class votes in the re-branding as the 'New Moderates', which resulted in sizeable gains in historically left-wing locations in densely populated areas. As a result, several municipalities that had never voted blue before in Stockholm County flipped. [1] This, combined with a landslide overall win in the capital region as a whole and strong showings in Scania tipped the balance in favour of the Alliance. The centre-right bloc also flipped the crucial populous municipalities Gothenburg, Linköping, Uppsala and Västerås. [1]

The Social Democrats recorded around 35% of the overall support, which was the party's worst showing in the post-war era. Although the red-green parties received a higher proportion of the vote than in the 1991 hung parliament loss, the coalition fell short of a majority by seven seats, or two percentage points of the popular vote. [1]

The Alliance did not reach 50% of the vote, courtesy of several minor parties gathering up 5.67% of the overall vote. [1] This was the final election before the Sweden Democrats entered the Riksdag, with the party getting close to three percent of the vote, falling short by just above one percentage point. The election also saw the party get above 10% in Bjuv Municipality in its Scanian heartlands and above the parliamentary threshold in the country's five southernmost constituencies. [1]

Campaign

The campaigning for the 2006 election began early, as the opposition decided to present itself as a viable alternative government by forming an alliance: Alliance for Sweden. This alliance was negotiated at a meeting held in the village of Högfors, home to the chairman of the Centre Party, Maud Olofsson. The meeting ended on 31 August 2004 with the presentation of a joint declaration outlining the principles under which the four parties intended to run in the election. [2] One year later a similar meeting was held at Bankeryd, home of Göran Hägglund, leader of the Christian Democrats. [3] See Alliance for Sweden for further information.

The Alliance enjoyed a leading position for over a year over the red-green parties, according to most polls. However the gap between the two blocs (s, v, and mp are assumed to work together) began to close rapidly in January 2006, and the red-green parties took the lead in May 2006; indeed they were ahead of the Alliance in every poll conducted in May and June. However, there was a late shift in opinion back to the Alliance during the summer: in mid-August all polls showed the Alliance leading the red-green parties comfortably.

Unemployment

The Social Democrat government's perceived failure to reduce unemployment was a major issue in the campaign, especially considering the good performance of the Swedish economy (when compared with that of the rest of Europe). The opposition also argued that "real" unemployment was much higher than the official figure of 4.8% (as of May 2006). [4] They quoted a figure of 1,037,000 (or 17.9% of the labour force in January 2006) for those who are "outside the labour market because they do not have a job or are studying". [5] If those who are "wholly or partially outside the labour market" are included then the figure rises to 1,700,000. [6] This gloomy view of the unemployment situation was raised by Jan Edling, a former economist for the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). However, compared with other OECD countries Sweden has a low "broad unemployment", as was pointed out by the Green Party's Peter Eriksson in the debate. [7]

Alliance for Sweden proposed to address the problem by cutting income tax for the lowest paid (by increasing the tax-free allowance), cutting the payroll tax (and abolishing it for parts of the service sector), and making wages paid for household work tax-deductible. [8] Critics of the proposed tax cuts said that, because they are funded by reducing unemployment benefit and sick pay, they would attack the most needy in society rather than helping them as Alliance for Sweden claimed.

In addition the Centre Party proposed a special youth contract of employment for those aged under 26, allowing their term of employment to be ended by their employer up to two years after they begin work. [9] This controversial proposal (not adopted by the Alliance as a whole) was intended to increase youth employment by making taking on new employees less risky for the employer, but it was criticised by the red-green parties as reducing job security for the young. A similar contract introduced by the French government (the Contrat première embauche ) caused angry demonstrations and riots in France. [10] [11] In a debate article in Göteborgs-Posten on 21 March 2006 Wanja Lundby-Wedin, Chairperson of LO, wrote:

"[Maud Olofsson's] new proposal to abolish job security for the young will not result in more jobs. It will only lead to increased insecurity and an even larger exclusion... More than half of youths under 25 who work already have an insecure job; a time-limited job of some sort. This is most usual among our young female members. The most insecure jobs, 'need-employment' or the so-called 'phone and run locum' is entirely on the employer's terms. Every morning many people sit and wait for their employer to ring. Am I needed today or not?". [12]

Olofsson replied two days later in the same newspaper:

"What LO's Chairperson has not understood is that those youths who already have a job are not covered by our proposal. It does however give a new opportunity for the 146,000 youths who are wholly or partially living in the exclusion the Social Democrats have created... One of the main reasons why companies don't take on new staff is that the risk is too large. If the gamble doesn't pay off then the costs are too great. By lowering the threshold for job creation we are convinced that many youths will be able to take their first steps onto a labour market that they today have never been able to set foot on. We are equally convinced that the great majority of these youths will show their employers that they were right to dare to employ them". [13]

A survey carried out by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) indicates that 41% of Swedish companies believe that such a contract would increase their willingness to hire young people "to a great extent" and that 51% believe that it would increase it "to a certain extent". 7% of those surveyed said that they did not think that they would be more willing to hire. [14] [15]

Computer break-in by Liberal People's Party members

On 4 September 2006, only two weeks before the general election, the Social Democratic Party reported to the police a computer break-in into its internal network. It has been reported that members of the Liberal People's Party copied secret information, not yet officially released, on at least two occasions for the purpose of counter-attacking Social Democratic political propositions. On 5 September the Liberal Party Secretary Johan Jakobsson  [ sv ] voluntarily resigned. Leading members of the party and its youth organization are under police investigation suspected for criminal activity.

Opinion polls

The charts below show the results of pre-election polls conducted by the five major polling institutes in Sweden.

TEMO has a summary of all polls conducted since the election in 2002, and is therefore cited as the reference for each poll.

Temo

PartyAugust 2006July 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005November 2005October 2005September 2005 Last
election
 Social Democrats (s)37.7%34.8%36.8%38.3%36.5%34.9%36.3%34.3%34.5%35.7%32.1%35.5%39.9%
 Moderate Party (m)28.0%28.6%26.3%26.9%27.9%29.2%28.4%30.9%30.3%27.6%31.6%31.4%15.3%
 Liberal People's Party (fp)9.8%10.2%9.9%8.7%9.9%9.7%10.5%10.0%10.4%9.4%9.4%8.7%13.4%
 Christian Democrats (kd)5.4%5.6%5.6%5.9%6.3%6.4%5.1%4.4%4.9%4.0%4.3%3.7%9.1%
 Left Party (v)3.6%4.7%5.9%5.4%5.1%6.2%6.0%6.2%5.2%6.1%5.9%5.7%8.4%
 Centre Party (c)6.1%5.7%5.8%6.3%6.0%5.3%6.2%5.6%6.2%6.5%5.6%6.8%6.2%
 Green Party (mp)5.3%5.8%4.5%4.9%5.3%5.1%4.6%4.8%5.2%4.8%4.6%4.7%4.6%
 June List (jl)------1.2%1.0%3.2%4.5%--NA
 
 Alliance for Sweden (m, c, fp, kd)49.3%50.1%47.6%47.8%50.1%50.6%50.2%50.9%51.8%47.5%50.9%50.6%44.0%
 Red-Green bloc (s, v, mp)46.5%45.2%47.2%48.6%46.8%46.2%46.9%45.3%44.9%46.6%42.6%45.9%52.9%
 Undecided (?)22.6%22.8%18.6%19.6%20.3%21.2%NA%NA%NA%NA%NA%NA%NA

[16]

Sifo

Party7 September 2006August 2006August 2006August 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005 Last
election
 Social Democrats (s)35.7%35.8%34.1%34.6%37.6%36.6%36.2%36.2%34.9%35.3%33.2%39.9%
 Moderate Party (m)26.0%24.3%28.6%26.7%26.9%25.2%26.2%28.2%28.1%30.9%29.7%15.3%
 Liberal People's Party (fp)7.6%10.2%11.1%10.3%9.2%11.7%11.5%10.2%10.7%9.3%10.6%13.4%
 Christian Democrats (kd)7.5%6.5%7.0%6.9%5.0%5.2%5.4%5.9%6.0%4.8%4.6%9.1%
 Left Party (v)7.1%5.6%5.9%5.6%6.1%6.8%6.4%5.6%6.0%6.7%6%8.4%
 Centre Party (c)6.2%6.7%4.9%6.6%6.2%5.8%5.3%6.7%5.8%6.9%6.7%6.2%
 Green Party (mp)5.7%6.0%4.5%5.9%5.2%5.5%5.2%4.4%4.9%4.1%4.5%4.6%
 June List (jl)-------2.2%---NA
 
 Alliance for Sweden (m, c, fp, kd)47.3%47.7%51.5%50.5%47.3%47.9%48.4%51.0%50.6%51.9%51.6%44.0%
 Red-Green bloc (s, v, mp)48.2%47.3%44.9%46.1%48.9%48.9%47.8%46.2%45.8%46.1%43.7%52.9%
 Undecided (?)-15.1%20.0%19.2%17.6%17.4%18.9%16.2%17.8%17.9%20.5%NA

[16]

Demoskop

PartyAugust 2006July 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005November 2005October 2005September 2005August 2005July 2005 Last
election
 Social Democrats (s)33.7%35.7%37.4%36.2%37.8%36.4%36.3%37.9%31.9%33.1%35.3%35.8%31.7%29.3%39.9%
 Moderate Party (m)30.4%30.9%27.4%30.3%30.0%31.0%31.6%30.8%30.5%31.3%30.8%30.6%31.6%35.8%15.3%
 Liberal People's Party (fp)9.9%8.0%8.8%10.0%8.8%9.3%9.1%10.1%9.7%9.3%11%8.7%10.8%9.7%13.4%
 Christian Democrats (kd)5.5%5.3%5.7%4.0%4.9%3.6%4.0%3.6%4.5%3.1%3.3%4.0%4.8%4.3%9.1%
 Left Party (v)6.9%4.4%6.9%7.1%5.2%4.5%7.2%5.6%6.7%7.3%5.9%8.1%5.2%6.2%8.4%
 Centre Party (c)4.6%7.3%5.4%3.6%4.8%5.9%4.7%4.2%6.3%6.7%4.7%5.8%7.8%6.5%6.2%
 Green Party (mp)5.2%4.2%6.2%5.5%4.9%5.1%5.5%6.2%6.2%4.2%4.2%4.4%6.2%4.7%4.6%
 
 Alliance for Sweden (m, c, fp, kd)50.5%51.5%47.3%47.9%48.5%49.8%49.4%48.7%51.0%50.4%49.8%49.1%55.0%56.3%44.0%
 Red-Green bloc (s, v, mp)45.8%44.3%50.5%48.8%47.9%46.0%49.0%49.7%44.8%44.6%45.4%48.3%43.1%40.2%52.9%

[16]

Skop

PartyAugust 2006July 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005 Last
election
 Social Democrats (s)35.5%34.5%36.2%37.8%34.7%39.0%36.3%35.9%36.9%39.9%
 Moderate Party (m)26.9%24.2%25.3%24.8%21.9%23.5%26.7%23.9%24.2%15.3%
 Liberal People's Party (fp)10.1%10.9%12.0%10.2%12.7%9.6%11.0%11.8%10.7%13.4%
 Christian Democrats (kd)7.2%6.8%6.2%6.4%6.9%6.4%6.0%6.6%4.6%9.1%
 Left Party (v)4.4%5.9%5.9%6.5%7.6%5.7%5.4%6.9%6.3%8.4%
 Centre Party (c)6.1%7.2%5.9%6.2%7.4%6.9%6.4%6.6%6.9%6.2%
 Green Party (mp)5.1%6.6%4.8%4.8%5.3%5.7%5.0%4.6%6.9%4.6%
 June List (jl)2.0%1.2%-1.4%-1.0%1.0%1.6%1.6%NA
 
 Alliance for Sweden (m, c, fp, kd)50.3%49.1%49.4%47.6%48.9%46.4%50.1%48.9%46.4%44.0%
 Red-Green bloc (s, v, mp)45.3%47.3%46.9%49.1%47.2%50.4%46.7%47.4%50.1%52.9%

[16]

Ruab

PartyAugust 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005 Last
election
 Social Democrats (s)40.4%37.2%36.8%35.2%37.1%35.4%36.4%38.0%39.9%
 Moderate Party (m)29.1%30.4%29.9%32.9%30.2%32.0%31.3%29.0%15.3%
 Liberal People's Party (fp)8.7%8.4%8.8%8.9%11.0%9.7%8.7%9.3%13.4%
 Christian Democrats (kd)5.0%4.7%4.7%5.2%2.8%3.7%4.0%4.2%9.1%
 Left Party (v)4.6%5.5%7.1%5.6%5.3%4.9%5.0%4.2%8.4%
 Centre Party (c)5.1%5.0%4.6%4.5%5.8%4.7%6.8%6.7%6.2%
 Green Party (mp)4.6%6.3%5.1%5.2%4.6%6.6%5.6%4.7%4.6%
 June List (jl)------1.1%1.5%NA
 
 Alliance for Sweden (m, c, fp, kd)47.9%48.5%48.0%51.5%49.8%50.1%50.8%49.2%44.0%
 Red-Green bloc (s, v, mp)49.6%49.0%49.0%46.0%47.0%46.9%47.0%46.9%52.9%

[16]

Debates

2006 Swedish general election debates
DateTimeOrganizersModerators P  Present   I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee 
S M L KD V C MP Refs
15 september 2006 Sveriges Television P
Göran Persson
P
Fredrik Reinfeldt
P
Lars Leijonborg
P
Göran Hägglund
P
Lars Ohly
P
Maud Olofsson
P
Peter Eriksson
[17]

Results

The final results were published on 21 September 2006 by the Swedish Election Authority (Valmyndigheten). [1] Apart from separating the minor parties, there were no big changes to the preliminary count from the election night. 6,892,009 people were eligible to vote in the election. The results are here compared with the 2002 election. There were 5,551,278 valid ballots cast, a turnout of 82%. [1]

Sweden Riksdag 2006.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party 1,942,62534.99130–14
Moderate Party 1,456,01426.2397+42
Centre Party 437,3897.8829+7
Liberal People's Party 418,3957.5428–20
Christian Democrats 365,9986.5924–9
Left Party 324,7225.8522–8
Green Party 291,1215.2419+2
Sweden Democrats 162,4632.9300
Feminist Initiative 37,9540.680New
Pirate Party 34,9180.630New
Swedish Senior Citizen Interest Party 28,8060.5200
June List 26,0720.470New
Health Care Party 11,5190.210New
National Democrats 3,0640.0600
Unity 2,6480.0500
National Socialist Front 1,4170.030New
New Future 1,1710.0200
Socialist Justice Party 1,0970.0200
People's Will8810.020New
Communist Party 4380.0100
Unique Party2220.000New
Classical Liberal Party 2020.000New
Alliance Party 1330.0000
Women's Power1160.000New
European Workers Party 830.0000
Direct Democrats 810.000New
Sweden out of the EU / Freedom and Justice Party750.000New
National Democratic Party680.0000
Partiet.se610.000New
September List510.000New
Communist League 300.0000
Nordic Union240.000New
Scania Party 110.0000
Tax Reformists90.0000
Rikshushållarna80.0000
Miata Party70.000New
New Swedes D.P.N.S.60.0000
Fårgutapartiet60.000New
Palmes Party50.000New
Republicans20.0000
Viking Party10.000New
Write-in votes1,3650.020
Total5,551,278100.003490
Valid votes5,551,27898.25
Invalid/blank votes99,1381.75
Total votes5,650,416100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,892,00981.99
Source: Val.se

Three hours after the polls closed, the result was clear enough for Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt to declare himself the victor and for Göran Persson to announce his resignation as prime minister and as leader of the Social Democratic Party. The four centre-right parties of Alliance for Sweden formed, as expected, a government with Fredrik Reinfeldt as Prime Minister. The Speaker had asked Reinfeldt to begin this formation on 19 September but, as is usual, requested the Cabinet of Göran Persson to stay on as a caretaker government until the Riksdag formally elected a new prime minister. The newly elected Riksdag convened on 2 October and the government was presented on 6 October. [18]

The election result is historic in being the worst result for the Social Democrats ever in a general election with universal suffrage (introduced in 1921) and the best result for the Moderates since 1928. [19]

Minor parties, that are not represented in the Riksdag, got a total of 5.7% of the votes, which was an increase of 2.6 percentage points, compared to the 2002 election. Behind this increase lay a great success for the Sweden Democrats, gaining 2.9% (+1.5 percentage points) and thus surpassing the limit (2.5%) for gaining governmental financial support for the next four years. Two new parties, Feminist Initiative (0.7%) and the Pirate Party (0.6%), also contributed to the increase. [20]

Of the 349 elected Riksdag members, 164 (or 47%) were women. [21]

Seat distribution

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
By partyBy coalition
S M C F KD V MP Alliance Red-green
Blekinge 53223
Dalarna 13531111167
Gävleborg 1152111147
Gothenburg 18551212299
Gotland 21111
Halland 104311164
Jämtland 531123
Jönköping 1353112176
Kalmar 8421144
Kronoberg 7321143
Malmö 104311146
Norrbotten 9611127
Örebro 12521111157
Östergötland 15641111178
Skåne North and East 104311164
Skåne South 1345111185
Skåne West 10441164
Södermanland 12521111157
Stockholm County 421017343232715
Stockholm Municipality 28611231231711
Uppsala 12431111166
Värmland 1152111156
Västerbotten 11511111147
Västernorrland 1152111156
Västmanland 94211145
Västra Götaland East 1143111165
Västra Götaland North 11421111156
Västra Götaland South 7321143
Västra Götaland West 13441111176
Total349130972928242219178171
Source: Statistics Sweden

By municipality

Aftermath

The minority government of Göran Persson's Social Democratic Party attempted, and failed, to gain enough seats to form a majority government, to continue as a minority or to govern in a red-green coalition government. His party had been in power since the 1994 election, and Persson had been prime minister since 1996. The Social Democrats before the election had an agreement with the Left Party and the Green Party that gave them an influence on government policy in exchange for their support. However, both the Left Party and the Green Party insisted that any red-green government formed after the election would need to include them in a coalition. [22]

The four centre-right parties – The Moderate Party (m), The Liberal People's Party (fp), The Christian Democrats (kd), and The Centre Party (c) – united in Alliance for Sweden succeeded in gaining enough seats to form a coalition government. The four parties (formerly in opposition) had presented a joint election manifesto (although c, fp, and kd still had individual manifestos). Their candidate for Prime Minister was the Moderate Party leader, Fredrik Reinfeldt.

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riksdag</span> Supreme legislative body of Sweden

The Riksdag is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members, elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, fixed four-year terms. The 2022 Swedish general election is the most recent general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moderate Party</span> Political party in Sweden

The Moderate Party, commonly referred to as the Moderates, is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liberalism. Globally, it is a full member of the International Democracy Union and the European People's Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Democrats (Sweden)</span> Political party in Sweden

The Christian Democrats is a Christian democratic political party in Sweden founded in March 1964. It first entered parliament in 1985, through electoral cooperation with the Centre Party; in 1991, the party won seats on its own. The party leader since 25 April 2015 has been Ebba Busch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fredrik Reinfeldt</span> Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014

John Fredrik Reinfeldt is a Swedish economist, lecturer, former Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He was the last rotating President of the European Council in 2009. He is chairman of the Swedish Football Association since 25 March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 15 September 2002, alongside municipal and county council elections. The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 144 of the 349 seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 20 September 1998. The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 131 of the 349 seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Björn von Sydow</span> Swedish politician

Björn Gustaf von Sydow is a former speaker (talman) of the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament. He held this office following the 2002 election, when he succeeded Birgitta Dahl, until he was replaced on 2 October 2006. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, he had been Minister of Defence in Göran Persson's government between 1997 and 2002, preceded by a short term as Minister of Commerce and Industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Olofsson</span> Swedish politician (born 1955)

Maud Elisabeth Olofsson is a former Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2010. She was a member of the Riksdag from 2002 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Göran Hägglund</span> Swedish politician (born 1959)

Bo Göran Hägglund is a Swedish politician of the Christian Democrats. He was the leader of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015, Member of the Riksdag from 1991 to 2015, and served as Minister for Social Affairs from 2006 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1979. Although the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 154 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1985 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 15 September 1985. The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 159 of the 349 seats. Its leader, Olof Palme, kept his position as prime minister. He would retain this position successfully until his assassination in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 15 September 1991. The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 138 of the 349 seats. However, it was the party's worst showing since 1928 with 37.7% of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance (Sweden)</span> Former political alliance

The Alliance, was a centre-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden. The Alliance consisted of the four centre-right political parties in the Riksdag. The Alliance was formed while in opposition, and later achieved a majority government in the 2006 general election and a minority government in the 2010 general election, governing Sweden from 2006 to 2014 with Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party serving as Prime Minister of Sweden until 2014. The Alliance was co-chaired by every component party's individual leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats; and the opposition centre-left coalition the Red-Greens, consisting of the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party.

After a period of rapid growth and unprecedented economic prosperity during the late 1980s, by 1990 the Swedish economy overheated, and after a controversial bill freezing salaries and banning strikes failed in the Riksdag, the social democratic government led by Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson resigned in February 1990. At this time the respected Finance Minister Kjell-Olof Feldt left the government in protest over what he saw as irresponsible economic policies. Carlsson soon formed a new government, but by the time of the general election in September 1991 the economy was in free fall, and with rapidly rising unemployment, the social democrats received the smallest share of votes in sixty years (37.7%), resulting in the loss of office to the opposition, a centre-right coalition led by Carl Bildt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens and supported by the Left Party, won 144 seats, one seat more than the four-party Alliance coalition, with the Sweden Democrats winning the remaining 62 seats. The Social Democrats' vote share fell to 28.3 percent, its lowest level of support since 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Swedish general election</span>

General elections were held in Sweden on 14 September 2014 to elect all 349 seats in the Riksdag, alongside elections for the 21 county councils, and 290 municipal assemblies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Swedish government crisis</span>

The 2014 Swedish government crisis started on 3 December 2014 after the Riksdag rejected the proposed government budget in favour of a budget proposed by the centre-right opposition.

Sweden held a general election on 17 September 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moderates (Denmark)</span> Political party in Denmark

The Moderates is a liberal political party in Denmark founded by former Prime Minister and current Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen. He announced the name in a foundational speech on 5 June 2021. At the same time, he said that his main scenario was that the party would be formed after the 2021 Danish local elections. The name was, according to Rasmussen, inspired by the fictitious Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg's party Moderaterne in the hit political TV drama Borgen as well as the Swedish Moderate Party, the then–second largest party in the Swedish Riksdag. The Moderates' political position is referred to as centre to centre-right.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Allmänna val 17 september 2006" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Statistiska centralbyrån" [Central Bureau of Statistics] (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2 July 2006.
  5. "Moderaterna" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on Jan 11, 2006.
  6. Archived June 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Moderaternas fejkade arbetslöshetssiffror Archived 2008-03-01 at the Wayback Machine , Peter Eriksson, September 16, 2006
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Centerns ungdomsavtal får inte politiskt stöd Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish), Sydsvenskan, 2 April 2006.
  10. Chirac calls for urgent talks after Paris violence, The Guardian, March 18, 2006
  11. Police fire rubber bullets at crowds as Paris labour law protest turns into riot, The Guardian, March 17, 2006
  12. LO: Maud Olofsson bör lära sig av protesterna i Paris Archived 2007-03-08 at the Wayback Machine , Göteborgs-Posten, March 21, 2006
  13. Vi vill hjälpa ungdomar som LO inte vill se Archived 2007-03-09 at the Wayback Machine , Göteborgs-Posten, March 23, 2006
  14. Företagen tror på ungdomsavtal [ permanent dead link ], Svenskt Näringsliv, March 21, 2006
  15. "Svenskt Näringsliv" (PDF). Svensktnaringsliv.se. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 "Väljarbarometern samtliga". Archived from the original on 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2006-09-24.
  17. Valet 2006 - Slutdebatten , retrieved 2024-02-01
  18. Nu ska den nya regeringen bildas Archived 2007-03-08 at the Wayback Machine , Göteborgs-Posten, September 18, 2006
  19. Historisk statistik över valåren 1910 – 2002 Archived 2010-09-14 at the Wayback Machine , Statistics Sweden,
  20. "Allmänna val 17 September 2006". Val.se. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  21. Mest jämställda någonsin Archived 2007-05-14 at the Wayback Machine , Svenska dagbladet, September 21, 2006
  22. There will be Green ministers Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine , The Local, May 22, 2006