Election - 17 September 2006
The elections were held on September 17, 2006. Prime Minister Goran Persson handed in his formal resignation following the defeat of his Social Democrats in the parliamentary elections. Political newcomer Fredrik Reinfeldt took over, after his four-party center-right alliance secured a narrow victory with 48 percent of the vote. Persson's Social Democrat coalition won just over 46 percent. Persson, who has been in office 10 years, conceded defeat. His cabinet remained in power in a caretaker capacity until Reinfeldt presented a new cabinet to parliament.
The Alliance for Sweden (a coalition of four center-right parties--the Moderate Party, the Liberal Party, the Christian Democrat, and the Center Party) won 178 of the 349 seats, securing Moderate Fredrik Reinfeldt the position of Prime Minister. The 2006 election results for Sweden's major parties were as follows: the Social Democratic Party (34.99%; 130 seats), the Moderate Party (26.23%; 97 seats), the Center Party (7.88%; 29 seats), the Liberal Party (7.54%; 28 seats), the Christian Democrats (6.59%; 24 seats), the Left Party (5.85%; 22 seats), and the Green Party (5.24%; 19 seats).
The new government embarked on an ambitious economic reform aimed at increasing employment, reducing welfare dependence, and streamlining the state's role in the economy. The economy slid into recession in 2008 as a result of deteriorating global conditions -- considerably restricting the scope of the government to press on with its reform program.
On 07 December 2008, the SDP, Green and Left Parties announced they would form a coalition with a joint election manifesto to regain control of the Parliament and take over the government in 2010. The SDPs have never entered into a formal coalition before, instead ruling for 65 of the last 74 years as a single party government that was able, in most cases, to gain support in Parliament from the Greens and the Left Party. This is a new phase in Swedish politics.
Sweden held the EU Presidency from July-December 2009. While the government's specific priorities were not finalized officially until late spring, the government stated it will focus on three main areas: climate change, the EU's economic welfare, and the EU as a global actor. In 2009 Sweden voted for its representatives to the European Parliament. To a certain extent, the Swedish EU Presidency compelled a reluctant Reinfeldt to take on a larger role on the international stage, especially on climate change and the Lisbon Treaty. Because of both his personal belief in the urgency of addressing climate change, and his political goal to win over an electorate that consistently gives top priority to environmental issues, Reinfeldt made achieving progress at the COP-15 conference in Copenhagen the top goal of Sweden's EU Presidency.
As party leader, Reinfeldt's political strategy has been to win at least two consecutive elections, according to one his biographers. To this end, Reinfeldt balances his political agenda welfare state reform with the desire to again win over the electorate in 2010. This is a difficult task to accomplish in a society that for 65 of the past 72 years had elected a center-left government.
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