Election Guide 2002 - Sweden.se

After the great election successes of the 1950s, the
1960s proved to be a new period of recession for the
party. By the end of the 1960s the Moderates were the
smallest non-socialist party in the Riksdag.
In 1970 Gösta Bohman was elected to succeed as Party
Chairman, and a new period of dynamism and election
success followed. In the 1979 election the Moderate
Party became the biggest of the non-socialist parties.
Non-socialist co-operation
During the 1960s the Right Party worked to being about
co-operation between the non-socialist parties, to create
a governmental alternative to the Social Democrats,
who, with only one very brief intermission, had ruled
Sweden since 1932. But it was not until the 1970s that
the three parties were able to agree on a political
alternative.
The non-socialist election victory of 1976 meant the
achievement of a long-standing aim: the long period of
Social Democratic rule had at last been broken. When
the leader of the Centre Party, Torbjörn Fälldin, formed
the first non-socialist coalition government, this was a
great victory for our party’s pursuit of non-socialist
unity.
Ideological offensive
During the 1970s and 1980s, the party sharpened its
ideological profile. Whereas previously it had been a
party resisting the Social Democrats’ policy of
nationalisation and central control, the party now
changed its emphasis. We became the party presenting a
political alternative of its own. Reduced taxes: people
must be able to live on their earnings after tax, without
having to depend on handouts! Greater freedom of
choice: give individuals control over their own
everyday lives! These were demands which came to be
pressed more and more vigorously.
Freedom of choice realised
When, following the 1991 election, Carl Bildt formed a
coalition government consisting of four non-socialist
parties, this was the first time since 1930 that Sweden
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