Moderate Party

For other uses, see Moderate Party (disambiguation).

Moderate Party Moderata samlingspartiet
Party chairman	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Party secretary	Sofia Arkelsten
Parliamentary group leader	Anna Kinberg Batra
Founded	17 October 1904 (1904-10-17)
Headquarters	Stora Nygatan 30, Gamla stan, Stockholm
Student wing	Moderate Students
Youth wing	Moderate Youth League
Membership  (2010)	55,612[1]
Ideology	Liberal conservatism[2]
Political position	Centre-right
International affiliation	International Democrat Union
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament Group	European People's Party
Official colours	Blue
Parliament:	107 / 349
European Parliament:	4 / 20
Counties:[3]	376 / 1,656
Municipalities:[3]	2,966 / 12,978
Mayors:[3]	95 / 290
Website
www.moderat.se
Politics of Sweden Political parties Elections

The Moderate Party (Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet: "the Moderate Coalition Party", commonly referred to in Swedish as Moderaterna: "the Moderates") is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden.^[4] The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament. The party has had two other names during its history: the National Organization of the Right (1938–1952) and the Rightist Party (1952–1969).

Following the 2010 general election, where the party gained 30.06% of the vote, the party is the major component of the governing centre-right coalition, the Alliance for Sweden, along with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. The current chairman of the party is Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is also Prime Minister of Sweden. Reinfeldt has been credited for having moved the party more towards the centre in Swedish politics, which is also reflected by its own claim of being the "New Moderates".^[5]

History

Early history

The party was founded on 17 October 1904 in a restaurant called Runan in Stockholm. The intention was to start a campaign organization in support of the group of Conservatives which had emerged in the Riksdag. During the 19th century conservatives had organised themselves in the Riksdag but there was no party to support them. The Swedish right-wing were also threatened by the rise of the Social Democrats (founded in 1889) and the Liberals (1902). The party was called the General Electoral League (Swedish: Allmänna valmansförbundet).

An election poster from the party in 1914 stating that the military defense comes first.

At first the party was clearly nationalist and staunchly conservative. The importance of a strong defense was underlined and other societal institutions embraced by the party were the monarchy and the state of law. The party held initially a protectionist view towards the economy, tariffs were widely supported as well as interventionist economical measures such as agricultural subsidies. In the defence policy crisis in 1914, which overturned the parliamentary Liberal government, the party sided with king Gustav V of Sweden, but stopped short of accepting a rightist government by royal appointment, instead opting for an independent-conservative "war cabinet" under Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, eventually overturned in favor of a Liberal-Social democratic majority coalition government and breakthrough of parliamentary rule, albeit reluctantly embraced by the right.

Arvid Lindman (often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and served two terms as Prime Minister of Sweden, before and after the enactment of universal suffrage. In 1907 he proposed universal male suffrage to the parliament and in 1912 he was formally elected leader. But the party voted against universal suffrage and the party again voted against women's right to vote. It was only because the party was in minority that Sweden was able to grant the right to vote for all, pushed through by the Liberals and the Social Democrats (the left), against the objections of the right. Although not one of the founders of the party and not a prominent ideologist, Lindman and his achievements as a leader are often appreciated as being of great importance for the new party. His leadership was marked by a consolidation of the Swedish right, and by transforming the party into a modern, effective, political movement. Lindman was a very pragmatic politician, but without losing his principles. He was a formidable negotiator and peace-broker. For this he was widely respected, even by his fiercest political opponents and when he resigned and left the parliament in 1935, the leader of the Social Democrats, Per Albin Hansson, expressed his "honest thanks over the battle lines".

Since the beginning of the 20th century, socialism and the socialist labour movement rose to replace liberalism as the major political force for radical reforms. The party intensified its opposition to socialism during the leadership of Lindman - the importance of continuance and strengthening national business were cornerstones. But at the same time, recent social issues gained significant political attention; by appeasing the working class, the party also hoped to reduce the threat of revolutionary tendencies. During the governments led by Lindman, several reforms for social progress were made, and it was his first government that initiated the public state pension.

The Second cabinet of Arvid Lindman in 1928

An election poster from the party during the 1940s, suggesting that the Communists and the Nazis were of the same spirit and should both be seen as hostile to the society.

In 1928 the party achieved its best election result to date at the time, bested only 82 years later - 29,4 % of the votes. At this time, the Swedish right had slowly started to move towards a classical liberal view on economic issues, under influence by mainly the liberal economist Gustav Cassel, but the economic downturn following the Great Depression frustrated the possible liberal transition of the economic policy. Despite that the party gained success in the general election of 1928, often called the Cossack Election, on a clearly anti-socialist program, the government later formed by the party did not respect the concept of market economy, but continued the protectionist policy by generous financial aid. The government also started a complete regulation of the agriculture. Producation associations, with the objective to administer the regulations and to run monopolies on imports, were also established during the period. All leading up to a corporate control of the Swedish economy unpassed since the popularisation of liberalism at the end of the 19th century.^[6] The government under Lindman fell in 1930 after the Social Democrats and the Freeminded People's Party had blocked a proposition for raised customs duty on grain.

The 1930s saw also the party in conflict over how to relate to the rising threat of National Socialism and Fascism. Its loosely affiliated youth organisation, the National Youth League of Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbund) was openly pro-Nazi and set up uniformed "fighting groups" to combat political enemies on the streets^{[citation needed]}. The mother party did not like this development, with Lindman clearly stating that pro-nazi views were not to be accepted in the party, and in 1933 the National Youth League was separated from the party. While the party set up a new youth league, which came to be called The Young Swedes (currently the largest youth league in Sweden in terms of membership), the core of the old one (in spite of some districts, such as Young Swedes-Gothenburg joining the new one) set up its own party - the National League of Sweden - which fought elections as an openly pro-Nazi party^{[citation needed]} and temporarily gained parliamentary representation in shape of three rightist MPs.

The party participated in the Third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson during the Second World War. It was a grand coalition including all major parties, only excluding the pro-Stalinist Communist Party and the pro-Nazi Socialist Party, both parties being members of the parliament as late as 1940.

The Rightist Party

Jarl Hjalmarsson, leader of the party between 1950 and 1961

In 1934 the Social Democrats formed a new government, and except for the World War II era, would stay in power until 1976. From having been a ruling party, the General Electoral League turned into a bastion of right-wing opposition, and in 1938 it was renamed the National Organization of the Right (Swedish: Högerns riksorganisation), a name that in 1952 was changed in favor of simply the Rightist Party (Swedish: Högerpartiet). Outside of Sweden, the party was typically called the Conservative Party.

After the Second World War, the party gradually lost support and the Liberal People's Party rose to become the second party after the Social Democrats, but at the beginning of the 1950s, the Rightist Party reemerged. Under the leadership of Jarl Hjalmarson (1950–1961) the party became an important voice against the rising levels of taxation and a defender of private ownership from, what the party saw as, the growing tendences of state centralization.

The party had significant success in the elections during the 1950s and became the largest party of the opposition in 1958. But the next decade brought changes to the political climate ot Sweden. The election of 1968 gave the Social Democracts an absolute majority in the parliament and reduced the Rightist Party to become the smallest party of opposition. The turbulent year of 1968 had made the ideological agenda of the party seem extreme and the party renamed itself the Moderate Coalition Party (Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet, generally just referred to as Moderaterna) in 1969.

Recent decades

Carl Bildt, leader of the party between 1986 and 1999. Foreign minister since 2006.

In 1970 Gösta Bohman was elected leader. During his leadership the party continued its gradual movement from nationalist traditionalist conservatism towards internationalist liberal conservatism, calling for Swedish membership in the EEC since the 1960s and in practice adopting most policies affiliated with classical liberalism. The party's liberal stance on social issues is seen as a key factor in the foundation of Christian Democratic Gathering in 1964, a Christian left/social conservative party currently a junior coalition partner. Bohman proved a successul leader and in 1976 the non-socialist opposition won the election. The Moderate Party joined the government under Thorbjörn Fälldin, with Gösta Bohman as Minister of Economy. The non-socialist parties managed to remain in power until 1982 in different constellations, but the election of 1979 again made the Moderate Party become the second party after the Social Democrats, a position it has held since then. Gösta Bohman was in 1981 replaced by Ulf Adelsohn.

In 1986, Carl Bildt was elected leader of the party. A son-in-law of Bohman, he managed to lead the party to an election victory in 1991. The Moderate Party led a non-socialist coalition between 1991 and 1994 with Carl Bildt as Prime Minister. The Cabinet of Carl Bildt did much to reform the Swedish government: cut taxes, cut public spending, introduced voucher schools, made it possible for counties to privatize health care, liberalized markets for telecommunications and energy, and privatized former publicly owned companies (further de-regulations and privatizations were carried out by the following Social Democratic Cabinet of Göran Persson). The negotiations for membership with the EU was also finalised.

The party gained votes in 1994, but the governing coalition lost its majority. Bildt stayed on as the Moderate party leader, failing to unite themselves with the Greens the non-socialist parties failed to return to government after the election in 1998 as well. Bo Lundgren replaced him and led the party in the disastrous election of 2002, much owed to his alleged libertarian stances, for which Lundgren continues to receive praise from younger members, however. Former head of the Moderate Youth Fredrik Reinfeldt was elected as the new party leader in 2003.

With the general election of 2006 the Moderates formed a coalition government with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats.

Ideology and political positions

Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the party since 2003

The Moderate Party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism, and corresponds to what is called liberal conservatism. The term liberalism is in Sweden and most of Europe not used in the way that it is currently used in the United States to denote modern liberals and progressives, but is closer to the traditional meaning of classical liberalism.

The Party supports free markets and personal freedom and has historically been the essential force for privatizations, deregulations, tax cuts and a reduction of the public-sector growth rate. However, it still embraces most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. Other issues emphasized by the party are such as actions against violent crime and sex crime, increasing and promoting the value of working, and quality in the educational system. The party supports the legalization of same-sex marriage in Sweden and Sweden's membership in the European Union.

The party campaigned for changing currency to the Euro in the 2003 referendum, but its more radical youth league did however in 2007 decide to say no to a Swedish membership in the monetary union.^[7] The official policy of Fredrik Reinfeldt on the issue, as of 2008, is that the result of the 2003 referendum has to be respected and that the issue will not be raised during the present term (-2010).^[8]

Since Fredrik Reinfeldt became party leader, the party has slowly started to move further towards the political center and also adopted pragmatic views. The party has abandoned several of its old key features such as a proportional income tax and increased military spending. Its former characteristic, according to some slightly neo-liberal, criticism of the labour laws has changed towards conserving the Swedish model and a careful embracing of balance on the labour market.^[9]

The Party has postponed a decision on Swedish membership of NATO and will not push for NATO membership the next years. It also seeks to decrease, but make more effective, the spending on foreign aid.

Voter base

Moderate Party results by group, VALU 2010[10] Group Votes (%) Avg. result +/− (pp) Company owners 40 +13 Civil servants 34 +7 Private sector employees 34 +7 Males 32 +5 Wage laborers 32 +5 Aged 31–64 31 +4 Members of TCO 29 +2 Aged 65+ 28 +1 Farmers 28 +1 Members of SACO 28 +1 Females 26 -1 Government employees 24 -3 Aged 18–21 23 -4 Aged 22–30 23 -4 Unemployed 23 -4 First-time voters 23 -4 Public sector employees 22 -5 Students 21 -6 Local government employees 21 -6 Raised outside Sweden 20 -7 Laborers 19 -8 Members of LO 16 -11 On sick leave 14 -13 All groups (total) 27 0

Moderate Party results by constituency, 2010 parliamentary election[11] Constituency Votes (%) Avg. result +/− (pp) Stockholm County 39.96 +9.9 Skåne County South 38.46 +8.4 Halland County 34.71 +4.65 Stockholm Municipality 34.29 +4.23 Skåne County West 33.80 +3.74 Västra Götaland County West 32.82 +2.76 Malmö Municipality 32.62 +2.56 Skåne County North and East 32.04 +1.98 Gothenburg Municipality 30.37 +0.31 Uppsala County 30.11 +0.05 Kronoberg County 29.84 -0.22 Östergötland County 28.65 -1.41 Västra Götaland County South 28.33 -1.73 Södermanland County 27.94 -2.12 Västra Götaland County East 27.91 -2.15 Blekinge County 27.34 -2.72 Västmanland County 27.14 -2.92 Västra Götaland County North 26.95 -3.11 Kalmar County 26.90 -3.16 Jönköping County 26.74 -3.32 Värmland County 25.72 -4.34 Gotland County 25.18 -4.88 Dalarna County 25.11 -4.95 Örebro County 24.01 -6.05 Gävleborg County 23.14 -6.92 Jämtland County 22.20 -7.86 Västernorrland County 21.60 -8.46 Västerbotten County 17.69 -12.37 Norrbotten County 16.38 -13.68 Sweden (total) 30,06 0

The table to the left shows the Moderate Party's percentage of votes and difference compared to the overall result among some selected groups in the 2010 parliamentary election, according to a polling station survey (VALU 2010) conducted by Sveriges Television.^[10]

The table to the right shows the party's percentage of votes and difference compared to the overall result in the 2010 parliamentary election by geographic constituency, according to the official election result given by the Swedish Election Authority.^[11]

Those groups/areas where the party's support is higher than among the overall population are marked in green, while those groups/areas where the party's support is lower than among the overall population are marked in red.

As shown from the table, the five groups where the Moderate Party has its highest level of support are: company owners (40%), civil servants (34%), private sector employees (34%), males (32%) and wage laborers (32%).^[10] The five groups where the party has its lowest level of support are: people on sick leave (14%), members of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO, 16%), laborers (19%), people raised outside Sweden (20%) and local government employees (21%).^[10]

Geographically, the Moderate Party has its highest level of support in the urban areas of Stockholm County, western and southern Sweden, while the support in sparsely populated areas (especially in northern Sweden) is weaker. The five constituencies where the party has its highest level of support are: Stockholm County (39.96%), Skåne County South (38.46%), Halland County (34.71%), Stockholm Municipality (34.29%) and Skåne County West (33.80%).^[11] The five constituencies where the party has its lowest level of support are: Norrbotten County (16.38%), Västerbotten County (17.69%), Västernorrland County (21.60%), Jämtland County (22.20%) and Gävleborg County (23.14%).^[11]

The Moderate Party voters ranked the following issues as the five most important for their decision in the 2010 election:^[10]

1. Swedish economy
2. Employment
3. Private economy
4. Schools and education
5. Taxes

The Moderate Party also has the largest share of voters who identify as "right-wing"; 83% of the party's voters identify as "right-wing", 2% as "left-wing" and 14% as "neither right-wing nor left-wing".^[10]

Furthermore the Moderate Party, along with the Centre Party, also has the largest share of voters (83%) who say that they have "big/relatively big confidence to Swedish politicians" (average was 70%).^[10]

Electoral history

Organization

The party is organized on national, county and municipal level. Currently the party has around 600 local party associations and 26 county or city associations ^[12] Each county or city association sends delegates to the party congress, which is held every third year.^[13] The 200 congress delegates elects a party chairman, two deputy party chairmen and members of the party board.^[13] The party board appoints a party secretary.^[13]

In December 2009 the party's reported membership was 55,612 people, the second largest membership after the Social Democrats.^[1]

Affiliated organizations

The Moderate Party has the following affiliated groups and organizations:

• Moderate Youth League (Moderata ungdomsförbundet, MUF), organizes young members
• Moderate Seniors (Moderata seniorer), organizes senior members
• Moderate Women (Moderatkvinnorna), organizes female members
• Open Moderates (Öppna moderater), organizes LGBT members

The Moderate Party is a full member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).^[13]

Leaders

Chairpersons Gustaf Fredrik Östberg, 1904–1905[14] Axel G. Svedelius, 1905–1906[14] Hugo Tamm, 1907[14] Gustaf Fredrik Östberg, 1908–1912[14] Arvid Lindman, 1912–1935[14] Gösta Bagge, 1935–1944[14] Fritiof Domö, 1944–1950[14] Jarl Hjalmarson, 1950–1961[14] Gunnar Heckscher, 1961–1965[14] Yngve Holmberg, 1965–1970[14] Gösta Bohman, 1970–1981[14] Ulf Adelsohn, 1981–1986[14] Carl Bildt, 1986–1999[14] Bo Lundgren, 1999–2003[14] Fredrik Reinfeldt, 2003–present[14]

First deputy party chairpersons (since 1935) Bernhard Johansson i Fredrikslund, 1935 Martin Skoglund i Doverstorp, 1935–1956 Leif Cassel, 1956–1965 Gösta Bohman, 1965–1970 Staffan Burenstam Linder, 1970–1981 Lars Tobisson, 1981–1999 Chris Heister, 1999–2003 Gunilla Carlsson, 2003–present

Second deputy party chairpersonss (since 1935) Karl Magnusson i Skövde, 1935 Fritiof Domö, 1935–1944 Jarl Hjalmarson, 1944–1950 Knut Ewerlöf, 1950–1958 Gunnar Heckscher, 1958–1961 Rolf Eliasson, 1961–1965 Yngve Nilsson i Trobro, 1965–1970 Eric Krönmark, 1970–1981 Ella Tengbom-Velander, 1981–1986 Ingegerd Troedsson, 1986–1993 Gun Hellsvik, 1993–1999 Gunilla Carlsson, 1999–2003 Kristina Axén Olin, 2003–present

Party secretaries (since 1949) Gunnar Svärd, 1949–1961 Yngve Holmberg, 1961–1965 Sam Nilsson, 1965–1969 Bertil af Ugglas, 1969–1974 Lars Tobisson, 1974–1981 Georg Danell, 1981–1986 Per Unckel, 1986–1991 Gunnar Hökmark, 1991–1999 Johnny Magnusson, 1999–2003 Sven Otto Littorin, 2003–2006 Per Schlingmann, 2006–2010 Sofia Arkelsten, 2010–present

National ombudsmen (1909–1965) Gustaf Gustafsson, 1909–1913 Karl Hammarberg, 1913–1915 Jonas Folcker, 1915–1920 Lennart Kolmodin, 1920–1949 Nils Hellström, 1949–1965

Prime Ministers Christian Lundeberg, 1905[14] Arvid Lindman, 1906–1911[14] Carl Swartz, 1917[14] Ernst Trygger, 1923–1924[14] Arvid Lindman, 1928–1930[14] Carl Bildt, 1991–1994[14] Fredrik Reinfeldt, 2006–present[14]

See also

• Alliance for Sweden
• Politics of Sweden
• Prime Minister of Sweden
• Government of Sweden
• Parliament of Sweden
• Elections in Sweden
• Moderate Women's League of Sweden

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cederholm, Robert; Eliasson, Anders (15 March 2010). "Partierna tappar medlemmar". Sveriges Television. http://svt.se/2.22620/1.1927298/partierna_tappar_medlemmar. Retrieved 7 October 2010. 
2. ^ http://www.parties-and-elections.de/sweden.html
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Allmänna val, valresultat". Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/ProductTables____12275.aspx. 
4. ^ Note that "liberal" has only the connotations of classical liberalism in Europe.
5. ^ Tandstad, Bent (18 September 2006). "Ein ny æra i svensk politikk". NRK. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.1009336. 
6. ^ Norberg, J. (1999). Den svenska Liberalismens historia. Timbro. ISBN 9175664291.
7. ^ http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_258399.svd
8. ^ http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=913&a=452308
9. ^ http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1042&a=709343
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Holmberg, Sören; Näsman, Per; Wänström, Kent (2010). Riksdagsvalet 2010 Valu (Report). Sveriges Television. http://svt.se/content/1/c8/02/15/63/14/ValuResultat2010_100921.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-30. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d} "Val till riksdagen - Röster" (in Swedish). Swedish Election Authority. 23 September 2010. http://www.val.se/val/val2010/slutresultat/R/rike/index.html. Retrieved 28 September 2010. 
12. ^ "Om moderaterna" (in Swedish). Moderate Party. http://www.moderat.se/web/Om_Moderaterna.aspx. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 
13. ^ ^{a b c d} "Moderata samlingspartiet" (in Swedish). Nationalencyklopedin Multimedia 2000. Höganäs: Bra Böcker. 2000. ISBN 91-7133-747-4. 
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v} "Kort partihistorik" (in Swedish). Moderate Party. http://www.moderat.se/web/Historia.aspx. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 

External links

• Moderata samlingspartiet, official website (Swedish)
• The Moderate Party, at the Swedish parliament's website