Moderate Party

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(Redirected from Moderata samlingspartiet)

Template:Infobox Swedish Political Party The Moderate Unity Party (in Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet, commonly referred to as Moderaterna) is a liberal conservative party in Sweden. It is a member of the International Democrat Union and European People's Party.

1 Early history
2 The Right Party
3 Recent Decades
4 Today
5 Ideology
6 Organisation
7 Voter base
8 Party leaders
9 Party Secretaries since 1947
10 First deputy party chairmen since 1935
11 Second deputy party chairmen since 1935
12 See also
13 References
14 External links

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Early history

The party was founded on 17 October 1904 in a restaurant called Runan in Stockholm. The intention was to start a campaign organisation 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 Union (Allmänna valmansförbundet).

At first the party was clearly nationalist and staunchly Conservative. The party opposed universal suffrage, workers' rights and social spending. The Party wanted to protect the privileges of the upper class and objected the idea that workers, women and low-income people should be allowed to vote. The importance of a strong defence was underlined. In the defence policy crisis in 1914, the party sided with the King.

Arvid Lindman (often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and was Prime Minister of Sweden twice. In 1907 he proposed universal male suffrage to the Riksdag. He was formally elected leader in 1912.

In 1928 the party achieved its best election result to date - 28%.

The 1930s saw the party in conflict over how to relate to Nazism. Its youth organisation, the National Youth League of Sweden (Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbund) was openly pro-Nazi and set up uniformed "fighting groups" to combat political enemies on the streets. The mother party did not like this development 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 Moderate Youth League, the old one formed its own party which fought elections as a pro-Nazi party.

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The Right Party

In 1934 the Social Democrats formed a new government. They came to stay in power until 1976, thus the party became a leading opposition party. In 1938 the party was renamed the National Organisation of the Right (Högerns riksorganisation). The Right helped govern with the Social Democrats during the Second World War, when Sweden was neutral.

In 1952 the party was renamed the Right-wing Party (Högerpartiet). During the leadership of Jarl Hjalmarson the party started to emerge as the leading opposition to the government. The turbulent year of 1968, with student revolts and an absolute majority for the Social Democrats, made the party rename itself the Moderate Unity Party (Moderata samlingspartiet, generally just referred to as Moderaterna) in 1969.

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Recent Decades

In 1970 Gösta Bohman was elected leader. Young and principled, Bohman finalised the transformation from a traditionalist Conservative party to a modern, freedom-oriented party. His leadership started a drift towards liberalism which continues to this day.

In 1976 the opposition finally won an election and the Moderates joined the government under Thorbjörn Fälldin, with Gösta Bohman as Minister for the Economy. The non-socialist parties managed to remain in power until 1982 in different constellations but the period is not generally seen as period of success. The election of 1979, however, finally made the Moderate Party the largest non-socialist party. Gösta Bohman was replaced by Ulf Adelsohn, who did not manage to win any elections.

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 government did much to reform the Swedish government , cut public spending and reduce taxes. The negotiations for membership with the EU was also finalised.

The party gained votes in 1994, but the coalition lost its majority. Bildt stayed on but lost the election in 1998 as well. Bo Lundgren replaced him and led the party in the disastrous election of 2002. Fredrik Reinfeldt became the new leader in 2003.

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Today

Under the leadership of Fredrik Reinfeldt the party has abandoned its hardcore tax-cut politics and started to emphasize traditional Social Democratic issues such as education, health-care and the importance of blue-collar workers. Together with three other liberal and conservative opposition parties Alliance for Sweden was formed during the fall of 2004 presenting a non-socialistic alternative to the current Social Democratic government. The Alliance rapidly gained public support much thanks to skillful rhetoric as well as a series of embarrassing scandals shaking the Swedish Social Democratic government. In May 2005 the Alliance, supported by more than half of the Swedish voters according to the polls, had already gained a superior lead. As of 2006 the lead for the Alliance has decreased significantly in the polls, even though it is still ahead of the government and its supporting parties.

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Ideology

The party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism. The party emphasizes personal freedom, free markets, privatization and reduction of the public-sector growth rate, while still supporting most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. The party also supports Sweden's membership of the European Union. They campaigned for the euro in 2003 referendum. Since Fredrik Reinfeldt became party leader, the party has moved to the center and much of the libertarianism has been replaced by a more centrist policy. It is largely expected that this shift will favour the party in the forthcoming elections.

The Party is in favour of Swedish membership of NATO and also seeks to decrease spending on foreign aid.

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Organisation

The party is lead by the party chairman who is also leader of the party. He or she is assisted by the board of the party.

The party is organised on national, county and municipal level. Each county sends delegates to the Party Congress, which is held every second year.

Young members are organised in the Moderate Youth League. There is no official student organisation although the views of the party are closest to those of the Free Moderate Student League, which used to be tied to the party. Senior citizens can join Moderate Seniors (Moderata seniorer).

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Voter base

The party has its strongest base around Stockholm and in Skåne. It is generally weak in the north of Sweden. Typical Moderate voters are educated white-collar workers and other private sector workers, usually with a higher-than-average income. The party has a stronger electoral support amongst men than amongst women.

Image:Mod2002parl.PNG

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