Liberals (Sweden)

"Liberalerna" redirects here. For the political party in Åland, see Liberals for Åland.

The Liberals
Liberalerna
AbbreviationL
ChairpersonJohan Pehrson
Party secretaryJakob Olofsgård[1]
Parliamentary group leaderLina Nordquist
Founded5 August 1934; 90 years ago (1934-08-05)
Merger ofFL and SLP
HeadquartersRiksgatan 2, Stockholm
Student wingLiberala studenter [sv]
Youth wingLiberal Youth of Sweden
Membership (2023)Decrease 9,799[2]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
Nordic affiliationCentre Group
Colours
  •   Blue
  •   White
Riksdag[3]
16 / 349
European Parliament[4]
1 / 21
County councils[5]
57 / 1,720
Municipal councils[5]
509 / 12,614
Website
www.liberalerna.se

The Liberals (Swedish: Liberalerna, L), previously known as the Liberal People's Party (Swedish: Folkpartiet liberalerna) until 22 November 2015, is a conservative-liberal[6][7] political party in Sweden. The Liberals ideologically have shown a broad variety of liberal tendencies. Currently they are seen as following classical liberalism[8] and economic liberalism,[9][10] and have been described as being centre-right.[11][12][13] 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.[11][14][15] 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;[16] it also focuses on gender equality, the school system and quality education.[11][14]

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.[17] 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. In an interview with Dagens Nyheter 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.[18] Since the decision to collaborate with the Sweden Democrats, the party has adopted more right-wing populist viewpoints, such as a more restrictive migration policy, easier withdrawal of citizenship for immigrants, and has strongly criticised Muslim schools.[19][20][21] The party ultimately agreed to join the Tidö Agreement and form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats and the Moderate Party, which rely closely on support from the Sweden Democrats.[22]

  1. ^ "Olofsgård från Jönköping blir Liberalernas partisekreterare". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). 12 April 2024. Archived from the original on 24 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Medlemsras för Liberalerna – störst tapp bland riksdagspartierna". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  3. ^ "2018 Val till riksdagen - Valda" (in Swedish). Election Authority (Sweden). Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Valresultat 2019" (in Swedish). Election Authority (Sweden). 31 May 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Rådata och statistik". Valmyndigheten (in Swedish). 10 March 2024. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  6. ^ Close, Caroline (2019). "The liberal family ideology: Distinct, but diverse". In van Haute, Emilie; Close, Caroline (eds.). Liberal Parties in Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 344. ISBN 978-1-351-24549-4.
  7. ^ Slomp, Hans (26 September 2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 433. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Liberalerna" [Liberals]. Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. ^ Mühlbauer, Peter (2018). "Trump mahnt Zollreziprozität an" (in German). Telepolis. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  10. ^ Hecking, Claus (2018). "Diese Regierungsbildung wird kompliziert" (in German). Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  11. ^ a b c "The Liberal Party - Folkpartiet". Sveriges Radio. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Crisis, conservatism, and China: the centre-right jockeys for position". The Local. 9 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  13. ^ Colomer, Josep M. (25 July 2008). Political Institutions in Europe. Routledge. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-134-07354-2.
  14. ^ a b "Folkpartiet – historia och ideologi". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 18 April 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  15. ^ Hennel, Lena (23 July 2014). "Alliansens ståndaktige soldat". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  16. ^ "Liberalerna vill att kärnkraftsreaktorn Ringhals 1 återstartas". SVT Nyheter. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Nyamko Sabuni ny partiledare för Liberalerna" (in Swedish). The Liberals. 28 June 2019. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  18. ^ "Nyamko Sabuni om samarbetet i höst: "SD kommer att vara en viktig del"". 2 February 2022. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  19. ^ Larsson, Simon (2 May 2021). "Fyra partierna är överens – vill ändra migrationslagen". Expressen. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  20. ^ "L-förslag: Medborgarskap ska kunna återkallas". SVT Nyheter. 13 November 2021. Archived from the original on 13 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  21. ^ "Muslimska friskolan får kritik även från politiskt håll". SVT Nyheter. 20 June 2019. Archived from the original on 13 November 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  22. ^ Szumski, Charles (17 October 2022). "Swedish Moderates strike government deal, far-right influence increases". www.euractiv.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.