Centre Party (Sweden)

History

The party was founded in 1913 as the Farmers' League (, B). In 1922, it merged with the ( , JR), and adopted its current name in 1957. At that time, it had been the closest ally of the centre-left Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) for twenty-five years, and one of the SAP's coalition partners between 1936 and 1945 as well as between 1951 and 1957. However, it later revised this strategy in order to establish a closer long-term alliance between the centre-right borgerlig ("bourgeois" or "nonsocialist") parties that achieved power between 1976 and 1982 and between 1991 and 1994.

Thorbjörn Fälldin served as Leader of the Centre Party and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1976 until 1982, except for a short interregnum between 1978 and 1979 led by Liberal People's Party leader Ola Ullsten. The Centre Party joined another centre-right government following the 1991 general election, led by Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt. During the leaderships of Maud Olofsson and Annie Lööf in the 2000s, the party positioned itself clearly on the political right as a small-business-friendly party, advocating market liberal policies and viewing the Social Democrats as its main opponent.

In 2005, the Centre Party sold the newspaper group it owned, Centertidningar AB, for 1.8 billion SEK, which made it the richest political party in the world at the time. In 2022, Annie Lööf resigned her position as Leader of the Centre Party.

Ideology and political position

The Centre Party sits on the centre to centre-right of the political spectrum. The party has also described as economically liberal, and "ecological-liberal". It describes itself as a green-liberal party, while it has been traditionally associated with agrarianism and the Nordic agrarian party family. Former party leader Demirok had pledged to end neoliberalism in the party.

National economy

The party has been described as one of Sweden's most market liberal parties in liberal, socialist and conservative media. It describes itself as "a party with a green, social and decentralised liberalism". The party advocates lower taxes, greatly reduced employer contributions, a freer market and an increased . The party is a major supporter of the interests of small businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs. It also favours investments in infrastructure and transportation, to allow employees to work in bigger cities but still live in the rural areas and vice versa. On economic policy, it views the Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats as its opponents, though it supported a government led by the Social Democrats till 2022.

Immigration

The party is liberal on immigration, seeking to combine a generous immigration policy with an initially more restrictive contribution policy to the immigrants. After the European migrant crisis, the party proposed to replace the existing establishment grants with establishment loans, similar to the Swedish student loans.

The balance of the state responsibility of accepting refugees with their responsibility for integration into Swedish society is at the core of the party policy. In January 2016, the party for example proposed to give all immigrants compulsory civic education in both rights and expectations from the society.

European Union

The party is a decentralist pro-European party that considers the European Union important for the preservation of peace, freedom and trade in Europe. The party also advocates a smaller but sharper European Union focused on promoting democracy, peace, free movement, free trade, vigorous action against climate change and collaboration against organized crime, while also believing that Sweden should stay outside the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and keep the krona as its currency.

The party is a member of the ALDE Party and its affiliated European Parliament group Renew Europe. In the European Committee of the Regions, the Centre Party sits with the Renew Europe CoR group with one full and one alternate member for the 2025-2030 mandate.

Publications

The Centre Party owned a media consortium called Centertidningar AB. It included newspapers that the party had either started on their own or brought from competitors. It included Hallands Nyheter, Södermanlands Nyheter, Länstidningen i Södertälje, Nynäshamns Posten, Norrtelje Tidning, Lidingö Tidning, Ljusdalsposten, Östersunds-Posten, Hälsingekuriren and Hudiksvalls Tidning. The consortium was split in 2005 and sold to Mittmedia, Stampen Group and VLT for a total of 1.815 billion Swedish kronor.

Election results

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Riksdag

European Parliament

Voter base

Traditionally, most of the party's voters come from rural areas and include farmers and agricultural producers. Since the takeover of Maud Olofsson in recent years, the party has been attracting liberal voters from urban areas in central Sweden. It is believed that voters from the Liberals have been moving to the Centre Party due to changes in both parties.

Leaders of the Centre Party

The Leader of the Centre Party is its highest political and organisational officer, its president in the National Executive Board and representative of the party in the media, in public and with other parties. The party leader has often held an important cabinet portfolio when the party has been part of a coalition.

Current Members of the Swedish Parliament

Current Members of the Swedish Parliament:

• Daniel Bäckström, parliamentary leader, spokesperson for rural affairs, member for Värmland
• Ulrika Heie, first deputy parliamentary leader and spokesperson for infrastructure policy, member for Västra Götalands läns östra
• Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, second deputy parliamentary leader, spokesperson for enterprise, member for Stockholms stad
• Anders W. Jonsson, spokesperson för healthcare policy, member for Gävleborg
• Alireza Akhondi, spokesperson for housing, member for Stockholms län
• Anders Karlsson, member for Jönköpings län
• Anders Ådahl, spokesperson for science and higher education, member for Västra götalands läns västra
• Anna Lasses, spokesperson for international aid, member for Stockholms län
• Anne-Li Sjölund, spokesperson for sports, member for Västernorrland
• Catarina Deremar, spokesperson for culture, member for Uppsala län
• Christofer Bergenblock, spokesperson for elderly care and disability rights, member for Halland
• Helena Lindahl, spokesperson for taxation, member for Västerbotten
• Helena Vilhelmsson, spokesperson for gender equality, member for Örebro län
• Jonny Cato, spokesperson for employment, member for Skåne läns västra
• Kerstin Lundgren, third deputy speaker of the Riksdag, spokesperson for foreign policy, member for Stockholms län
• Malin Björk, spokesperson for constitutional affairs, member for Stockholms stad
• Martin Ådahl, spokesperson for economic policy, member for Stockholms stad
• Martina Johansson, spokesperson for social security, member for Södermanland
• Mikael Larsson, spokesperson for defence, member for Västra Götalands läns södra
• Muharrem Demirok, member for Östergötland
• Niels Paarup-Petersen, spokesperson for education policy, member for Malmö
• Rickard Nordin, spokesperson for energy and climate policy, member for Gothenburg
• Stina Larsson, spokesperson for environmental policy, member for Skåne läns södra
• Ulrika Liljeberg, spokesperson for legal policy, member for Dalarna

Substitutes:

• Mona Smedman (January - May 2024), for Daniel Bäckström
• Emelie Nyman (January - June 2024), for Niels Paarup-Petersen

Party leadership

The current party leadership includes:

• Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, chairperson of the Centre Party
• Rickard Nordin, deputy chairperson of the Centre Party
• Daniel Bäckström, parliamentary leader and spokesperson for rural policy
• Ulrika Liljeberg, member of parliament and spokesperson for legal policy
• Martin Ådahl, member of parliament and spokesperson for economic policy
• Madelaine Jacobsson, mayor of the Nordmaling Municipality
• Karin Ernlund, Secretary-General of the Centre Party

References

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