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The Liberals (Template:Langx, L), formerly known as the Liberal People's Party (Template:Langx) until 22 November 2015, is a conservative-liberal<ref name="Close2019">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Slomp2011">Template:Cite book</ref> political party in Sweden. The Liberals ideologically have shown a broad variety of liberal tendencies. Currently they are seen as following economic liberalism<ref name="heise">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="spiegel">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and have been described as being centre-right.<ref name="SR" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Colomer2008">Template:Cite book</ref> The party is a member of the Liberal International and Renew Europe.
Historically, the party was positioned in the centre of the Swedish political landscape, willing to cooperate with both the political left and the right. It has since the leadership of Lars Leijonborg and Jan Björklund in the 2000s positioned itself more towards the right.<ref name="SR">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="DN">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was a part of the Alliance centre-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt from 2006 to 2014. The party's policies include action toward a free market economy and pushing for Sweden to join the Eurozone, as well as investing in nuclear power;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> it also focuses on gender equality, the school system and quality education.<ref name="SR" /><ref name="DN" /> Many within the party have also argued in favour of European federalism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In February 2019, following the conclusion of government negotiations, Jan Björklund announced his intention to step down from the leadership position after 11 years at the helm of the Liberals. He was succeeded by Nyamko Sabuni in June 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After the 2021 Swedish government crisis, the party withdrew its support for Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, and is now part of a right-wing government together with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats, with support from the Sweden Democrats, with Ulf Kristersson as their Prime Minister candidate The party ultimately agreed to join the Tidö Agreement and form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats and the Moderate Party, which rely on support from the Sweden Democrats.<ref name="www.euractiv.com">Template:Cite news</ref>
HistoryEdit
- 1809: The first liberal party is formed after a coup d'état ends 20 years of royal autocracy under the Union and Security Act; it may be the first party in the world to use the word "liberal" in its name (This information needs to be verified with a citation. According to Bäck, Henry, Gissur Ó. Erlingsson and Torbjörn Larsson (2013.). Den svenska politiken: struktur, processer och resultat Stockholm: Liber, p. 49 a Liberal party was formed in the Parliament in 1900).
- 1902: The Free-minded National Association ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is formed as the first liberal party with a national grassroots organisation. It is heavily reliant on the free church movement (Protestants outside Church of Sweden).
- 1910: After women become eligible to be elected to municipal councils in Sweden, suffragette Valborg Olander is elected to the Falun city council for the Liberal Party.
- 1923: The Free-minded National Association splits over alcohol prohibition; the anti-ban minority forms the Liberal Party of Sweden. The Free-minded would come to lead several governments during the coming years.
- 1934: The parties reconcile and form the People's Party ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), i.e. the party in its present form.
- 1939–45: It takes part in a wartime coalition government comprising all parties except the communists. Sweden remains neutral during the Second World War.
- 1976: It enters a three-party government ending 44 years of Social Democratic Party rule (excepting the wartime emergency grand coalition).
- 1978: The People's Party forms a short-lived minority government by itself, with chairperson Ola Ullsten as prime minister. Hans Blix served as a foreign minister.
- 1979: A new attempt at a three-party coalition is made.
- 1980–82: It forms a two-party coalition government with the Centre Party.
- 1990: It adds Liberal to its name to become the Liberal People's Party ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).
- 1991–94: It forms part of a four-party centre-right coalition government under Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt.
- 2002: It more than doubles its vote share and comes close to being the second-largest party in Riksdag elections; party leader Lars Leijonborg fails to unite a green-liberal four-party coalition government with passive Moderate support.
- 2006: On 4 September 2006, only weeks before the 2006 general election, the Social Democratic Party reported to the police that its internal network had been hacked into. It has been reported that members of the then-named Liberal People's Party had, in order to counter Social Democrat political propositions, on at least two occasions copied secret information that had not yet been officially released. On 5 September, Party Secretary Johan Jakobsson voluntarily chose to resign. Leading members of the party and its youth organisation both were placed under a police investigation, suspected for criminal activity. All members of the party were acquitted by the court; however, an official of the party's youth organisation, and one from the Social Democrats as well as a newspaper reporter, were found guilty.<ref>Liberal admits Social Democrat computer hack, The Local, 4 September 2006 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Press officer behind Liberals' computer scandal, The Local, 4 September 2006 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Police to question more Liberal activists, The Local, 5 September 2006 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Liberal party secretary resigns, The Local, 5 September 2006 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Three convicted for people's party's computer infringement, Sveriges Radio, 27 April 2007 Template:Webarchive</ref>
- 2006–14: It forms part of the Alliance four-party centre-right coalition government under Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt.
- 2015: It changes its name from the Liberal People's Party to the Liberals ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).
- 2018: It, together with the Centre Party, voted down a proposed Moderate-Christian Democrat government led by Ulf Kristersson after concerns that such a government would be dependent on the Sweden Democrats for support.
- 2019: It, together with the Centre Party, voted to tolerate a Social Democratic-Green government led by Stefan Löfven after coming up with a 73-point agreement. Jan Björklund also announced he will step down as party leader and will not stand in the party's autumn leadership contest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2021: After the 2021 Swedish government crisis, the party withdraw their support for Löfven, and now supports a centre-right government with Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister.
- 2022: In the parliamentary elections in September the party won 4.61% of votes and 16 places in the Swedish Parliament.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 2022: The party agrees to form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats and the Moderate Party, with support from the Sweden Democrats as part of the Tidö Agreement.<ref name="www.euractiv.com"/>
- 2025: Party leader Johan Pehrson resigns as party leader following poor performances for the party in opinion polls.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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IdeologyEdit
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Historically the party's official ideology was social liberalism.<ref name="Annesley">Template:Cite book</ref> Since 2018 the party has been defined as economically liberal and conservative-liberal.<ref name="heise"/><ref name="spiegel"/><ref name="Close2019"/>
While initially allied with the Swedish Social Democratic Party in the struggle for democracy (achieved in 1921) and social reform, the People's Party came to be part of the opposition from the thirties and onwards, opposing Social Democrat demands for nationalization of private businesses. It has stayed opposed to the Social Democrats ever since, often as the largest or second-largest party of the opposition block (called the non-socialists or "de borgerliga", approximately the bourgeois), but often equally critical towards parties on the right. Over time, this has shifted towards a more clear-cut rightwing role. In the mid-nineties the party seemed to have ruled out the alternative of co-operation with the Social Democrats, focusing instead on bringing them down by strengthening the opposition.Template:Citation needed
Foreign policy is another high-profile issue. Always oriented towards the United States and the United Kingdom, the party was a strong opponent of communism and Nazism during the 20th century. While it was part of and supported the Swedish coalition government and its position of neutrality during World War II, the party advocated an active stance against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The party (alongside Moderaterna) actively supported the struggle of the Baltic peoples against the Soviet regime, whereas Social Democrats were wary of irritating the Soviets.<ref>Ett liv för Baltikum: journalistiska memoarer. - Stockholm: Timbro, 2002. - 351 s. : ill. - Template:ISBN</ref> As a consequence, it suffered several sharply worded rebukes from the often-ruling Social Democrats for endangering Swedish relations with the Soviet Union. It also criticised what it perceived as Social Democrat tolerance of left-wing dictatorships in the third world, and supported the United States in the Vietnam War. After the end of the Cold War, it became the first Swedish party to call for abandoning the country's traditional neutrality in favor of joining NATO.Template:Citation needed
On the European level, the Liberal People's Party was strongly supportive of the emergence of the European Union and campaigned for Swedish entry into it (which happened in 1995). It also campaigned for joining the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, but this was voted down by the Swedes in a referendum in 2003. The party has aimed to come across as the most "pro-European" party, trying to break what it refers to as the country's "isolationist" mindset. It is supportive of EU enlargement, including letting Turkey join on condition of democratic reforms, and also advocates further integrative measures, with some members, including the youth organization, openly calling for a single federal European state.<ref name=EU>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2003, the Liberal People's Party supported the invasion of Iraq, but stopped short of demanding Swedish participation in the US-led "coalition of the willing". In recent years, and especially under the leadership of Jan Björklund, the party has moved markedly towards conservative liberalism in its social attitudes, taking tougher stands on areas such as crime and punishment, law and order, school and discipline as well as strengthening its abolitionist policies on drugs. In 2008, the Liberal People's Party's support for a controversial legislative change regulating the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) in particular upset its youth organisation.Template:Citation needed
In 2021 the party took a more restrictive migration policy, easier withdrawal of citizenship for immigrants, and criticised Muslim schools.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In an interview with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in February 2022, Sabuni stated that the Sweden Democrats will "play an important role in an eventual right-wing government" and that she would not be hesitant to work and collaborate with them, stating that there was a possibility of Liberals supporting a Moderate-Christian Democrats-Sweden Democrats government, even if the Liberals were not included in the government while ruling out direct collaboration with the Sweden Democrats.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Voter baseEdit
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Statistical changes in voter baseEdit
| Socio-economic group and gender of voters | Percentage of which voting for the Liberals | ||||||
| Groups/Gender | 2002 | 2006 | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue-collar workers | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| White-collar workers | 20 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | |
| Businessmen and farmers | 15 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | |
| Male | 14 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | |
| Female | 16 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | |
| Source: | <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |||||
Historically the party had a strong base in the 'free churches' (Protestant congregations not part of the state church that turned into powerful grassroots movements in the late 19th century), but with the exception of certain regions, that is not a significant feature today. Tensions between factions sometimes described as "the free religionists" and "the metropolitan liberals" (occasionally in the form of an open left-right conflict, with the "free religious" members emphasizing the social aspect over liberal economics) was an important part of party life until the seventies. It provoked a party split in the twenties, centred on the question of an alcohol ban, but differences were eventually repaired. (The re-merging of the parties in 1934 is one of the party's plethora of official creation dates, some others being 1895, 1900 and 1902, providing frequent cause for anniversary celebrations.)
The party enjoys higher support among people above the age of 65, tending to be higher among people who have completed higher education. Its support is lowest among people with a pre-gymnasial education.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The party's voters are predominantly urban with more than 30% of L-voters residing in Metropolitan Stockholm. The party's support is especially strong in affluent municipalities such as Danderyd, Lidingö and Lomma.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Sveriges Television's exit poll for the 2019 European parliament election, voters of the Liberals were the most likely to approve of Sweden's EU membership.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In September 2022, 84% of L-voters supported Sweden's bid to join NATO.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Election resultsEdit
RiksdagEdit
European ParliamentEdit
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Hadar Cars | 129,376 | 4.82 (#6) | Template:Composition bar | New | ELDR |
| 1999 | Marit Paulsen | 350,339 | 13.85 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 2 | |
| 2004 | Cecilia Malmström | 247,750 | 9.86 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | ALDE |
| 2009 | Marit Paulsen | 430,385 | 13.58 (#3) | Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 1 Template:Steady | |
| 2014 | 368,514 | 9.91 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | ||
| 2019 | Karin Karlsbro | 171,419 | 4.13 (#8) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | RE |
| 2024 | 183,675 | 4.38 (#8) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Steady |
OrganizationEdit
SymbolsEdit
- Liberals (Sweden) logo.svg
Current logo
- Swedish Liberals Temporary Logo 2015.png
Transitionary logo after being renamed to the Liberals (2015)
- Folkpartiet liberalerna.svg
Logo of the Liberal People's Party
Party leadersEdit
| Leader | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| Gustaf Andersson | 1935 | 28 September 1944 |
| Bertil Ohlin | 28 September 1944 | 1967 |
| Sven Wedén | 1967 | 26 September 1969 |
| Gunnar Helén | 1969 | 7 November 1975 |
| Per Ahlmark | 7 November 1975 | 4 March 1978 |
| Ola Ullsten | 4 March 1978 | 1 October 1983 |
| Bengt Westerberg | 1 October 1983 | 4 February 1995 |
| Maria Leissner | 4 February 1995 | 15 March 1997 |
| Lars Leijonborg | 15 March 1997 | 7 September 2007 |
| Jan Björklund | 7 September 2007 | 28 June 2019 |
| Nyamko Sabuni | 28 June 2019 | 8 April 2022 |
| Johan Pehrson | 8 April 2022 | Incumbent |
Affiliated organisationsEdit
The party has a youth organization called Liberal Youth of Sweden (Liberala ungdomsförbundet, LUF), which has its own platform and maintains a separate organisation from the party.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Since 2024 its chairperson has been Anton Holmlund.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
There is also a women's organization called Liberal Women<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Liberala Kvinnor, LK, chairperson Cecilia Elving<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) and immigrants' organization called Liberal Mångfald, LM, (Liberal Multicultural Association, chairperson Anna Steele Karlström). Additionally, party members maintain a number of small ad hoc "networks" addressing specific issues.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
International affiliationEdit
The Liberals is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Liberal International. It is also part of Liberal organisations on the Nordic and Baltic levels. The party's MEP sits with Renew Europe parliamentary group (previously ALDE).
In the European Committee of the Regions, the Liberals sit in the Renew Europe CoR group with one full member for the 2020-2025 mandate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- Alliance (Sweden)
- Liberal Youth of Sweden
- Liberalism and centrism in Sweden
- Fria liberaler i Svenska kyrkan
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- The Liberals: Sweden's liberal party - a factsheet about the party and its policies
- The Swedish Parliament: The Liberal Party
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