Centre Party Centerpartiet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | C |
| Party Chairman | Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist |
| Leader in the Riksdag | Daniel Bäckström[1] |
| Party Secretary | Karin Ernlund[2] |
| Founded | 2 March 1913; 112 years ago (1913-03-02) |
| Headquarters | Stora Nygatan 4,Gamla stan,Stockholm |
| Youth wing | Centre Party Youth |
| Membership(2023) |  20,377[3] |
| Ideology | Liberalism (Swedish) Agrarianism (Nordic) |
| Political position | Centre tocentre-right |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| European Parliament group | Renew Europe |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Nordic affiliation | Centre Group |
| Colours | Green |
| Riksdag | 24 / 349 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 21 |
| County councils[4] | 155 / 1,696 |
| Municipal councils[5] | 1,603 / 12,700 |
| Website | |
| centerpartiet.se | |
TheCentre Party (Swedish:Centerpartiet[ˈsɛ̂nːtɛrpaˌʈiːɛt]ⓘ,C) is aliberal[6][7][8]political party in Sweden, founded in 1913.
The party focuses on thenational economy, theenvironment, politicaldecentralisation andsocial integration. It is represented in all of theRiksdag's parliamentary committees, currently holding 24 seats. From 2019 to 2021, it provided confidence and supply to theLöfven II cabinet.
Traditionally part of theNordic agrarian family of political parties, the Centre Party has increasingly switched focus towardseconomic liberalism,environmental protection,equality of the sexes anddecentralisation of governmental authority.[9][10] The party describes itself asliberal feminist,[11] campaigning for policies which enhance gender equality on anindividualist basis. Its environmental policies stress the importance of consent and voluntary action,[12] including working withforesters and private landowners to promotebiodiversity within a mutually agreeable framework.[13]
The Centre Party has produced twoprime ministers of Sweden, who served a total of three terms;Thorbjörn Fälldin was the last Centre Party prime minister, and held the post for a total of five years, from 1976 to 1978 and then again from 1979 to 1982. It is a member of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, theLiberal International andRenew Europe. It was originally named theFarmers' League (Swedish:Bondeförbundet[ˈbʊ̂nːdɛfœrˌbɵndɛt]ⓘ;B).
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2022) |
The party was founded in 1913 as theFarmers' League (Swedish:Bondeförbundet, B). In 1922, it merged with theNational Farmers' Union [sv] (Swedish:Jordbrukarnas Riksförbund[ˈjûːɖˌbrʉːkaɳasˈrɪ̂ksfœrˌbɵnd]ⓘ, JR), and adopted its current name in 1957. At that time, it had been the closest ally of thecentre-leftSwedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) for twenty-five years, and one of the SAP'scoalition 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 thecentre-rightborgerlig ("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 byLiberal People's Party leaderOla Ullsten. The Centre Party joined another centre-right government following the1991 general election, led byModerate Party leaderCarl Bildt. During the leaderships ofMaud Olofsson andAnnie Lööf in the 2000s, the party positioned itself clearly on thepolitical right as asmall-business-friendly party, advocatingmarket liberal policies and viewing the Social Democrats as its main opponent.[14][9][15]
In 2005, the Centre Party sold the newspaper group it owned,Centertidningar AB, for 1.8 billionSEK,[16] which made it the richest political party in the world at the time.[17] In 2022, Annie Lööf resigned her position as Leader of the Centre Party.
The Centre Party sits on thecentre[18][19][20] tocentre-right[21][22][23] of thepolitical spectrum. The party has also described aseconomically liberal,[24] and "ecological-liberal".[25] It describes itself as agreen-liberal party,[26][27] while it has been traditionally associated withagrarianism and theNordic agrarian party family.[28][29][30] Former party leader Demirok had pledged to endneoliberalism in the party.[31]
The party has been described as one of Sweden's mostmarket liberal parties in liberal, socialist and conservative media.[32] It describes itself as "a party with a green, social and decentralised liberalism".[33] The party advocates lower taxes, greatly reduced employer contributions, a freer market and an increasedRUT-deduction [sv]. The party is a major supporter of the interests ofsmall businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs.[34] 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 theSocial Democrats and theSweden Democrats as its opponents, though it supported a government led by the Social Democrats till 2022.
The party is liberal on immigration, seeking to combine a generous immigration policy with an initially more restrictive contribution policy to the immigrants. After theEuropean migrant crisis, the party proposed to replace the existing establishment grants with establishment loans, similar to theSwedish student loans.[35]
The balance of the state responsibility of acceptingrefugees 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.[36]
The party is a decentralistpro-European[37] party that considers theEuropean 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 theEconomic and Monetary Union of the European Union and keep thekrona as its currency.[38]
The party is a member of theALDE Party and its affiliatedEuropean Parliament groupRenew Europe.[39] In theEuropean Committee of the Regions, the Centre Party sits with theRenew Europe CoR group with one full and one alternate member for the 2025-2030 mandate.[40][41]
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 includedHallands Nyheter,Södermanlands Nyheter,Länstidningen i Södertälje,Nynäshamns Posten,Norrtelje Tidning,Lidingö Tidning,Ljusdalsposten,Östersunds-Posten,Hälsingekuriren andHudiksvalls Tidning. The consortium was split in 2005 and sold toMittmedia,Stampen Group andVLT for a total of 1.815 billionSwedish kronor.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1914 | 1,507 | 0.2 (#4) | 0 / 230 | No seats | ||
| 1917 | 39,262 | 5.3 (#5) | 9 / 230 |  9 | Opposition | |
| 1920 | 52,318 | 7.9 (#4) | 20 / 230 | 11 | Opposition | |
| 1921 | Johan Andersson | 192,269 | 11.0 (#4) | 21 / 230 | 9 | Opposition |
| 1924 | 190,396 | 10.8 (#4) | 23 / 230 | 2 | Opposition | |
| 1928 | Olof Olsson | 263,501 | 11.2 (#4) | 27 / 230 | 4 | Opposition |
| 1932 | 321,215 | 14.1 (#3) | 36 / 230 | 9 | Opposition(1932–1936) | |
| Minority(1936) | ||||||
| 1936 | Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp | 418,840 | 14.4 (#3) | 36 / 230 |  | Coalition |
| 1940 | 344,345 | 12.0 (#3) | 28 / 230 | 8 | Coalition | |
| 1944 | 421,094 | 13.6 (#3) | 35 / 230 | 7 | Coalition(1944–1945) | |
| Opposition(1945–1948) | ||||||
| 1948 | 480,421 | 12.4 (#3) | 30 / 230 | 5 | Opposition | |
| 1952 | Gunnar Hedlund | 406,183 | 10.7 (#4) | 26 / 230 | 4 | Coalition |
| 1956 | 366,612 | 9.5 (#4) | 19 / 231 | 7 | Coalition | |
| 1958 | 486,760 | 12.7 (#4) | 32 / 231 | 13 | Opposition | |
| 1960 | 579,007 | 13.6 (#4) | 34 / 232 | 2 | Opposition | |
| 1964 | 559,632 | 13.2 (#4) | 36 / 233 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 1968 | 757,215 | 15.7 (#2) | 39 / 233 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 1970 | 991,208 | 19.9 (#2) | 71 / 350 | 32 | Opposition | |
| 1973 | Thorbjörn Fälldin | 1,295,246 | 25.1 (#2) | 90 / 350 | 19 | Opposition |
| 1976 | 1,309,669 | 24.1 (#2) | 86 / 349 | 4 | Coalition(1976–1978) | |
| Opposition(1978–1979) | ||||||
| 1979 | 984,589 | 18.1 (#3) | 64 / 349 | 22 | Coalition | |
| 1982 | 859,618 | 15.5 (#3) | 56 / 349 | 8 | Opposition | |
| 1985 | 490,999 | 8.8 (#4) | 43 / 349 | 13 | Opposition | |
| 1988 | Olof Johansson | 607,240 | 11.3 (#4) | 42 / 349 | 1 | Opposition |
| 1991 | 465,356 | 8.5 (#4) | 31 / 349 | 11 | Coalition | |
| 1994 | 425,153 | 7.7 (#3) | 27 / 349 | 4 | Opposition(1994–1995) | |
| External support(1995–1998) | ||||||
| 1998 | Lennart Daléus | 269,762 | 5.1 (#5) | 18 / 349 | 9 | Opposition |
| 2002 | Maud Olofsson | 328,428 | 6.2 (#6) | 22 / 349 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2006 | 437,389 | 7.9 (#3) | 29 / 349 | 7 | Coalition | |
| 2010 | 390,804 | 6.6 (#5) | 23 / 349 | 6 | Coalition | |
| 2014 | Annie Lööf | 370,834 | 6.1 (#5) | 22 / 349 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2018 | 557,500 | 8.6 (#4) | 31 / 349 | 9 | External support | |
| 2022 | 434,945 | 6.7 (#5) | 24 / 349 | 7 | Opposition |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Karl Erik Olsson | 192,077 | 7.16 (#5) | 2 / 22 | New | ELDR |
| 1999 | 151,442 | 5.99 (#7) | 1 / 22 | 1 | ||
| 2004 | Lena Ek | 157,258 | 6.26 (#6) | 1 / 19 | | ALDE |
| 2009 | 173,414 | 5.47 (#7) | 1 / 18 1 / 20 | | ||
| 2014 | Kent Johansson | 241,101 | 6.49 (#6) | 1 / 20 | | |
| 2019 | Fredrick Federley | 447,641 | 10.78 (#5) | 2 / 20 | 1 | RE |
| 2024 | Emma Wiesner | 306,227 | 7.29 (#6) | 2 / 21 | |
Traditionally, most of the party's voters come from rural areas and include farmers and agricultural producers. Since the takeover ofMaud Olofsson in recent years, the party has been attractingliberal voters from urban areas in central Sweden. It is believed that voters from theLiberals have been moving to the Centre Party due to changes in both parties.[42]
The Leader of the Centre Party is its highest political and organisational officer, itspresident in theNational Executive Board and representative of the party in the media, in public and with other parties.[43] The party leader has often held an importantcabinet portfolio when the party has been part of a coalition.
| Name | Portrait | Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erik Eriksson |  | 1916–1920 | |
| Johan Andersson | | 1920–1924 | |
| Johan Johansson | | 1924–1928 | |
| Olof Olsson | | 1928–1934 | |
| Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp |  | 1934–1949 | Prime Minister of Sweden from 19 June 1936 to 28 September 1936. Minister of Agriculture from 1936 to 1945. |
| Gunnar Hedlund |  | 1949–1971 | Minister of the Interior from 1951 to 1957. |
| Thorbjörn Fälldin |  | 1971–1985 | Two-timePrime Minister of Sweden from 1976 to 1978, and 1979 to 1982. |
| Karin Söder |  | 1985–1987 | First woman in Sweden to be elected the leader of a major political party. One of the first female foreign ministers in the world. Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1976 to 1978. Minister for Health and Social Affairs from 1979 to 1982. |
| Olof Johansson |  | 1987–1998 | Minister for Energy from 1976 to 1978. Minister for the Environment from 1991 to 1994. |
| Lennart Daléus |  | 1998–2001 | |
| Maud Olofsson |  | 2001–2011 | Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2010. Minister for Business and Industry from 2006 to 2011. |
| Annie Lööf | .jpg) | 2011–2023 | Minister for Business and Industry from 2011 to 2014. |
| Muharrem Demirok | .jpg) | 2023–2025 | |
| Anna-Karin Hatt | .jpg) | 2025– | Minister for Energy from 2011 to 2014. Minister for Digital Development from 2011 to 2014.Minister for Regions from 2010 to 2011. |
Current Members of the Swedish Parliament:[44]
Substitutes:
The current party leadership includes:[45]
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