The Monkey
The Freeman
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Next Sunday (the 17th of September) there will be a general election in Sweden. There are currently seven parties in the Parliament, and they are the main players in this election. There are also some minor parties, such as the feminists and the nationalists, but they aren’t expected to make it past the 4%-barrier (in order for a party to enter the Swedish parliament, one must get more than 4% of the votes). Currently, the Social Democrats are in office, with the support of the Left Party and the Green Party. They face a right-wing opposition of four parties that goes under the name of “Alliance for Sweden”. Most of the text below (except for the minor party section) I've written myself, with some help from Wikipedia.
Here’s a short summary of the major parties in Sweden (and % of how many votes they got in the last General election, in 2002):
The Left-Wing coalition
The Left Party (8.4%) They were formed as a result of a split from the Social Democrats in 1917, and they were up to the 70s loyal to Moscow. Up to the 1990, they went under the name of “Left Party the Communists”, and as of today, many people in the party still hold Marxist tendencies, not the least their leader, Lars Ohly. But today they classify themselves as Socialists and Feminist rather than Communists. They support the current minority government, but their calls for minister posts have have not been accepted by the Social Democrats in any of the last two elections.
The Social Democratic Party (39.9%) These are the big players in Swedish politics. They have been the biggest party in every election since 1914 and have ruled Sweden during 66 of the last 74 years. Their ideology is Social Democracy (in short, they wish to combine the best parts of socialism and capitalism). They take credit of everything good that has happened in Sweden since the 30s and much of their philosophy is based around the idea of the so called People’s Home, a term coined in 1928 by their previous leader Per-Albin Hansson, who said that Sweden should be transformed into a home of the people, were everyone would feel safe and no one would be left out. They lead the current minority government on their own and their Party Leader, Göran Persson, is also the Prime Minister of Sweden.
The Green Party (4.6%) A relatively new party that, along with the Left Party, support the current government (they haven’t received any minister posts either). They wish to make environment issues a big part of politics and one of their goals is to end all nuclear power plants in Sweden.
The Bourgeois (“The Alliance for Sweden”)
The Centre Party (6.2%) The traditional agriculture party. They too have environment issues high up on their agenda. They are now more of a social liberal environment party than just a farmer’s interest organization.
The Liberal People’s Party (13.4%) The classical Social Liberal Party. In 2002 they made their best election for a long time, and almost passed the Moderates in numbers of votes, but opinion polls show that they are now far behind the coalition partner. They have a tougher stance on the issues of criminality and immigration than most other parties and did as a result receive many populist votes from the far right in the last election. They are certainly no racists, though.
The Christian Democrats (9.1%) This is the only major party that’s against gay marriage. They are pretty secular, though, despite their name. They claim to guard the family and they are moral conservative on a couple issues, but they are still more liberal than conservative both economically and socially (they are, for example, pro-choice, just like all the other parties).
The Moderate Party (15.3%) They are the biggest opposition party, and their leader, Fredrick Reinfeldt, will most likely be the new Prime Minister if the bourgeois win the election. The election of 2002 was the worst they’ve had since ’73. They have gone from being the classical right-wing party that demands constant tax cuts to being a party that’s more interested in lowering the unemployment rate. They are generally regarded as Liberal Conservative, but with American standards, they probably more liberal than conservative.
Minor Parties
The June List (first election) This is a relatively new eurosceptic party. It was founded in 2004 and won the third most votes in that years election to the European Parliament. Opinion polls in the autumn of 2005 showed that the party was hovering around the 4% of support required to win seats in the Riksdag, but recently its support has dropped well below 4%.
The Healthcare party (first election) This party focuses on higher budgets for health care.
The Feminist Initiative (first election) This is a new party which focuses on feminist issues. One of their ideas is the infamous "man tax", where men should pay higher tax than women, to pay for all the violence that men commit against women.
The Pirate Party (first election) The party strives to reform laws regarding intellectual property, including copyright, patent and the protection of design. The agenda also includes support for a strengthening of the right to privacy (such as private property and private information), both on the Internet and in everyday life. Since it does not have an agenda on any other issues, the party claims it is not possible to place it anywhere on the left-right scale.
The Sweden Democrats (1.44%) This is a nationalistic party that received the most votes of all the contender parties in the 2002 elections. This party is usually accused by other parties and the public as being populist, rascist and sometimes even fascist.
The Swedish Senior Citizen Interest Party (0.71%) This is a party that advocates increased spending on senior citizens at the cost of foreign aid and tighter immigration rules.
The debates between the blocks are usually about how to best handle the unemployment and other aspects of the economy. The left accuse the right of wanting to destroy the welfare, and the right accuse the left of not handling the job market well enough. The Alliance are more united now than ever, and they have been leading the opinion polls for the last year or so, but the left is gaining on them, so it's bound be to a close election.
Read more at Wikipedia.
Here’s a short summary of the major parties in Sweden (and % of how many votes they got in the last General election, in 2002):
The Left-Wing coalition
The Left Party (8.4%) They were formed as a result of a split from the Social Democrats in 1917, and they were up to the 70s loyal to Moscow. Up to the 1990, they went under the name of “Left Party the Communists”, and as of today, many people in the party still hold Marxist tendencies, not the least their leader, Lars Ohly. But today they classify themselves as Socialists and Feminist rather than Communists. They support the current minority government, but their calls for minister posts have have not been accepted by the Social Democrats in any of the last two elections.
The Social Democratic Party (39.9%) These are the big players in Swedish politics. They have been the biggest party in every election since 1914 and have ruled Sweden during 66 of the last 74 years. Their ideology is Social Democracy (in short, they wish to combine the best parts of socialism and capitalism). They take credit of everything good that has happened in Sweden since the 30s and much of their philosophy is based around the idea of the so called People’s Home, a term coined in 1928 by their previous leader Per-Albin Hansson, who said that Sweden should be transformed into a home of the people, were everyone would feel safe and no one would be left out. They lead the current minority government on their own and their Party Leader, Göran Persson, is also the Prime Minister of Sweden.
The Green Party (4.6%) A relatively new party that, along with the Left Party, support the current government (they haven’t received any minister posts either). They wish to make environment issues a big part of politics and one of their goals is to end all nuclear power plants in Sweden.
The Bourgeois (“The Alliance for Sweden”)
The Centre Party (6.2%) The traditional agriculture party. They too have environment issues high up on their agenda. They are now more of a social liberal environment party than just a farmer’s interest organization.
The Liberal People’s Party (13.4%) The classical Social Liberal Party. In 2002 they made their best election for a long time, and almost passed the Moderates in numbers of votes, but opinion polls show that they are now far behind the coalition partner. They have a tougher stance on the issues of criminality and immigration than most other parties and did as a result receive many populist votes from the far right in the last election. They are certainly no racists, though.
The Christian Democrats (9.1%) This is the only major party that’s against gay marriage. They are pretty secular, though, despite their name. They claim to guard the family and they are moral conservative on a couple issues, but they are still more liberal than conservative both economically and socially (they are, for example, pro-choice, just like all the other parties).
The Moderate Party (15.3%) They are the biggest opposition party, and their leader, Fredrick Reinfeldt, will most likely be the new Prime Minister if the bourgeois win the election. The election of 2002 was the worst they’ve had since ’73. They have gone from being the classical right-wing party that demands constant tax cuts to being a party that’s more interested in lowering the unemployment rate. They are generally regarded as Liberal Conservative, but with American standards, they probably more liberal than conservative.
Minor Parties
The June List (first election) This is a relatively new eurosceptic party. It was founded in 2004 and won the third most votes in that years election to the European Parliament. Opinion polls in the autumn of 2005 showed that the party was hovering around the 4% of support required to win seats in the Riksdag, but recently its support has dropped well below 4%.
The Healthcare party (first election) This party focuses on higher budgets for health care.
The Feminist Initiative (first election) This is a new party which focuses on feminist issues. One of their ideas is the infamous "man tax", where men should pay higher tax than women, to pay for all the violence that men commit against women.
The Pirate Party (first election) The party strives to reform laws regarding intellectual property, including copyright, patent and the protection of design. The agenda also includes support for a strengthening of the right to privacy (such as private property and private information), both on the Internet and in everyday life. Since it does not have an agenda on any other issues, the party claims it is not possible to place it anywhere on the left-right scale.
The Sweden Democrats (1.44%) This is a nationalistic party that received the most votes of all the contender parties in the 2002 elections. This party is usually accused by other parties and the public as being populist, rascist and sometimes even fascist.
The Swedish Senior Citizen Interest Party (0.71%) This is a party that advocates increased spending on senior citizens at the cost of foreign aid and tighter immigration rules.
The debates between the blocks are usually about how to best handle the unemployment and other aspects of the economy. The left accuse the right of wanting to destroy the welfare, and the right accuse the left of not handling the job market well enough. The Alliance are more united now than ever, and they have been leading the opinion polls for the last year or so, but the left is gaining on them, so it's bound be to a close election.
Read more at Wikipedia.
