Election Guide 2002 - Sweden.se

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days in 1936, and their successive party chairmen served as Prime Ministers: Per Albin Hansson until his death in 1946, Tage Erlander from 1946 until his retirement in 1969, and Olof Palme as his successor. Between 1933 and 1936, the Social Democrats had a working agreement with the Agrarians (now the Centre Party). Coalition governments of Social Democrats and Agrarians were in power in 1936-1939 and 1951-1957. During World War II, all parties except the Communists took part in a grand coalition government. From 1945- 1951 and 1957-1976, the Social Democrats held office alone. In the 1976 election, the three non-socialist parties together won an 11-seat majority in the Riksdag. The Social Democratic government resigned and was replaced by a coalition made up of the Centre Party, the Moderate Party and the Liberal Party. The Chairman of the Centre Party, Thorbjörn Fälldin, became Prime Minister. After two years in office, this coalition government was succeeded by a Liberal Party minority government headed by the party’s chairman, Ola Ullsten. In the 1979 election, the non-socialist parties together kept their majority of parliamentary seats by the narrowest possible margin (175 out of 349). A new threeparty coalition government was formed, again headed by Mr Fälldin. In the spring of 1981, the Moderate Party resigned from the government. In the 1982 election, the non-socialist parties lost their majority. The Centre Party Liberal Party coalition government resigned and was succeeded by a Social Democratic minority government (based on 166 parliamentary seats) with Olof Palme as Prime Minister. This government remained in office after the general election in 1985. Olof Palme was assassinated in February 1986 and was succeeded as Party Chairman and Prime Minister by Ingvar Carlsson. In 1988 Ingvar Carlsson formed a minority government (with 156 seats out of 349). In 1991 the non-socialist parties polled more votes than the socialists and a four-party coalition was formed by the Moderates, Liberals, Centre Party and Christian Democrats, with Moderate Party Chairman Carl Bildt as Prime Minister. 8
After the general election in 1994, the Social Democrats returned to power (with 161 seats out of 349) and formed a new government with Ingvar Carlsson as Prime Minister. In March 1996 Ingvar Carlsson resigned and was succeeded by Göran Persson, the new chairman of the Social Democratic Party. In the 1998 election, the foundations of the government were weakened. Nevertheless, the Persson Government remained in power (with 131 seats out of 349) and cooperated with the Left Party and the Green Party in the Riksdag. How the system works today Proportional representation Parliamentary elections employ a system of proportional representation designed to ensure a distribution of seats among the parties in proportion to the votes cast for them nationally. Proportional fairness is not primarily achieved in each constituency but in the whole country regarded as a single constituency. Hence, in addition to 310 fixed constituency seats, 39 seats are distributed at large so as to obtain a fair, nationally proportional result. However, the at-large seats are also filled by candidates from the parties’ regular electoral lists. There is one exception to the rule of complete national proportionality: a quota rule intended to prevent very small parties from gaining representation in the Riksdag. A party must thus receive at least 4% of the national popular vote to qualify for any seats. In any one constituency, however, a party can gain a seat by obtaining 12% of the votes, even if its national popular vote falls short of 4%. Dissolution of the Riksdag The government has the right to dissolve the Riksdag and call an extraordinary election between the ordinary, regularly scheduled elections. However, the mandate of an extraordinary election is valid only for the remaining portion of the regular parliamentary term of office. No extra election has been held in Sweden since the current constitution came into force in 1975. 9
Page 1 and 2: Swedish Election Guide 2002 1
Page 3: Contents Foreword..................
Page 7: The Swedish political system Histor
Page 11 and 12: The political parties The seven par
Page 13: Local government Swedish democracy
Page 16 and 17: equired to give advance notice of p
Page 18 and 19: atio in connection with the first e
Page 20 and 21: The Centre Party 20 Centerpartiet
Page 22 and 23: 22 In this year’s election Maud w
Page 24 and 25: Equal conditions are a prerequisite
Page 26 and 27: 5. Equal development opportunities
Page 28 and 29: 28 Centre Party endorses the Riksda
Page 30 and 31: The Christian Democratic Party 30 K
Page 32 and 33: 32 and, of course, bandy. He has be
Page 34 and 35: has about 24,000 members and organi
Page 36 and 37: Important topics for the 2002 elect
Page 38 and 39: training capacity, better working c
Page 40: 40 Names and addresses Party Headqu
Page 43 and 44: Maria Wetterstrand Maria Wetterstra
Page 45 and 46: mentarians and ministers, co-ordina
Page 47 and 48: quality control in all schools, bot
Page 49 and 50: 17. Better terms for animals! We de
Page 51 and 52: 30. Cancel Third World debts and in
Page 53 and 54: Names and addresses National Office
Page 55 and 56: Gudrun Schyman Gudrun Schyman is on
Page 57 and 58: legislation requiring large corpora
Page 59 and 60:
profit considerations. The same goe
Page 61 and 62:
Names and addresses Party Headquart
Page 64 and 65:
The Liberal Party 64 Folkpartiet Li
Page 66 and 67:
History of the Liberal Party In 189
Page 68 and 69:
The following is the Liberal Party
Page 70 and 71:
Disabled care v Restore the right t
Page 72:
72 Names and addresses Party Headqu
Page 75 and 76:
Bo Lundgren MP, Chairman of the Mod
Page 77 and 78:
chaired by Carl Bildt - and the Eur
Page 79 and 80:
had had a Prime Minister belonging
Page 81 and 82:
The party election manifesto adopte
Page 83 and 84:
will not be worth so much. It is ob
Page 86 and 87:
The Social Democratic Party 86 Soci
Page 88 and 89:
88 and more common assumption of re
Page 90 and 91:
founded in 1992. It succeeded the C
Page 92 and 93:
persons hesitate to start families.
Page 94:
94 Names and addresses Party Headqu
Page 97 and 98:
Press Centre for foreign correspond
Page 99 and 100:
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and F
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