Speaker of the Riksdag

Speaker of the Riksdag
Riksdagens talman
Coat of Arms of the
Swedish Parliament
since 24 September 2018
The Riksdag
StyleSwedish: Herr talman
(English: "Mr Speaker")
SeatParliament House
NominatorRiksdag
AppointerThe Alderman
Term lengthFour years (de facto)
Inaugural holderHenry Allard
Formation1617; 407 years ago (1617)
DeputySee List of Deputy Speakers
Salary2,112,000 kr annually[1]
Websitewww.riksdagen.se

The speaker of the Riksdag (Swedish: Riksdagens talman) is the presiding officer of the national unicameral legislature in Sweden.

The Riksdag underwent profound changes in 1867, when the medieval Riksdag of the Estates was abolished. The new form of the Riksdag included two elected chambers, each with its own speaker. Since the de facto introduction of parliamentarism in 1917, the Riksdag has properly functioned as the institution to which the prime minister and the government are held accountable. In 1971 the institution was transformed into a unicameral legislature with 350 members, reduced to 349 in 1976 to avoid parliamentary deadlocks. Since 1975, in accordance with the Instrument of Government of 1974, it is the speaker and no longer the monarch who appoints and dismisses the prime minister.

The current speaker is Andreas Norlén, who has held the gavel since September 2018.[2]

  1. ^ "Frågor & svar samt statistik över ledamöternas arvoden" (in Swedish). Riksdag. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  2. ^ "Andreas Norlén Elected Speaker of the Riksdag". Publicnow. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.