Moderate Party

History

General Electoral League (1904–1938)

The party was founded on 17 October 1904 in a restaurant called Runan in Stockholm. The intention was to start a campaign organization 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 was also threatened by the rise of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (founded in 1889) and the Liberals (1902). The party was called the General Electoral League (Swedish: Allmänna valmansförbundet). The founders of the party initially held a principled opposition to the concept of political parties, viewing political agitation as a source of national division and instability. However, the organization was established out of a perceived necessity among conservatives to counter the growing the influence of the Social Democrats and the radical left.

At first, the party was clearly nationalist and staunchly conservative. The importance of a strong defence was underlined and other societal institutions embraced by the party were the monarchy and the state of law. The party initially held ia protectionist view towards the economy; tariffs were widely supported as well as interventionist economical measures such as agricultural subsidies. In the defence policy crisis in 1914 (which overturned the parliamentary Liberal government), the party sided with King Gustaf V but stopped short of accepting a right-wing government by royal appointment, instead opting for an independent-conservative "war cabinet" under Hjalmar Hammarskjöld which was eventually overturned in favour of a Liberal-Social Democratic majority coalition government and thus the breakthrough of parliamentary rule, albeit reluctantly embraced by the right.Arvid Lindman (often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and served two terms as Prime Minister of Sweden, before and after the enactment of universal suffrage. In 1907, he proposed universal male suffrage to the parliament and in 1912 he was formally elected leader. But the party voted against universal suffrage and the party again voted against women's right to vote. It was only because the party was in the minority that Sweden was able to grant the right to vote for all, pushed through by the Liberals and the Social Democrats (the left), against the objections of the right. Although not one of the founders of the party and not a prominent ideologist, Lindman and his achievements as a leader are often appreciated as being of great importance to the new party. His leadership was marked by a consolidation of the Swedish right, and by transforming the party into a modern, effective, political movement. Lindman was a very pragmatic politician, but without losing his principles. He was a formidable negotiator and peace broker. For this, he was widely respected, even by his fiercest political opponents and when he resigned and left the parliament in 1935, the leader of the Social Democrats, Per Albin Hansson, expressed his "honest thanks over the battle lines".

National Organization of the Right (1938–1952)

The party participated in the third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson during the Second World War. It was a grand coalition including all major parties, only excluding the Communist Party and the pro-Nazi Socialist Party, both parties being members of the parliament at this time.

In 1934, the Social Democrats formed a new government, and except for the World War II era, would stay in power until 1976. From having been a ruling party, the General Electoral League turned into a bastion of right-wing opposition, and in 1938 it was renamed the National Organization of the Right (Swedish: Högerns riksorganisation [ˈhøːɡɛɳʂ ˈrɪ̂ksɔrɡanɪsaˌɧuːn] ), a name that would stay until 1952. Outside Sweden, the party was typically called the Conservative Party.

After the Second World War, the party gradually lost support and the Liberals rose to become the second most popular party after the Social Democrats.

Conservative Party (1952–1969)

At the beginning of the 1950s, the party re-emerged after being renamed the Rightist Party (Swedish: Högerpartiet); its name outside Sweden remained Conservative Party. Under the leadership of Jarl Hjalmarson (1950–1961) the party became a prominent voice against the rising levels of taxation and a defender of private ownership from, what the party saw as, the growing tendencies of state centralization.

The party had significant success in the elections during the 1950s and became the largest party of the opposition in 1958. However, the next decade brought changes to the political climate of Sweden. The election of 1968 gave the Social Democrats an absolute majority in the parliament and made the Rightist Party into the smallest party of the opposition.

Moderate Party (1969–present)

By 1968, the dominance of the Social Democratic Party and 24 years of trailing the liberal People's Party among the opposition bloc had pushed the party to the edge of political relevance. Seeking to shed its conservative image, in 1969, the party changed its name to the Moderate Coalition Party (Swedish: Moderata samlingspartiet, generally just referred to as Moderaterna) or just the Moderate Party.

In 1970, Gösta Bohman was elected leader of the Moderate Party. During his leadership the party continued its gradual movement from nationalist traditionalist conservatism towards internationalist liberal conservatism, calling for Swedish membership in the EEC since the 1960s and in practice adopting most policies affiliated with classical liberalism. It also adopted a much more liberal social outlook, which was seen as a key factor in the foundation of the Christian Democratic Gathering in 1964, a socially conservative party. Bohman proved a successful leader, and helped lead the non-socialist opposition to victory in the 1976 election.

The Moderate Party joined the government under Thorbjörn Fälldin, with Gösta Bohman as Minister of Economy. The non-socialist parties managed to remain in power until 1982 in different constellations, but the election of 1979 again made the Moderate Party become the second most popular after the Social Democrats, a position it held between then and 2022. Gösta Bohman was in 1981 replaced by Ulf Adelsohn.

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 center-right coalition between 1991 and 1994, with Bildt serving as the first conservative Prime Minister since Arvid Lindman. The cabinet of Carl Bildt did much to reform the Swedish government: they cut taxes, cut public spending, introduced voucher schools, made it possible for counties to privatize health care, liberalised markets for telecommunications and energy, and privatised former publicly owned companies (further deregulations and privatisations were carried out by the following Social Democratic Cabinet of Göran Persson). The negotiations for membership with the European Union were also finalized.

The party gained votes in 1994, but the governing coalition lost its majority. While Bildt stayed on as the Moderate Party leader, failing to unite with the Greens, the non-socialist parties failed to return to government after the election in 1998 as well. Bo Lundgren replaced him and led the party in the disastrous general election of 2002, much owed to his alleged neoliberal stances, for which Lundgren continued to receive praise from younger members. Former head of the Moderate Youth Fredrik Reinfeldt was elected as the new party leader in 2003.

Ideology and political positions

The Moderate Party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism, and corresponds to what is called liberal conservatism. As is common in European centre-right and conservative parties, the term liberalism in Sweden refers to the traditional meaning of classical liberalism rather than progressivism or social liberalism in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

The party supports free markets and personal freedom and has historically been the essential force for privatisation, deregulation, lowering tax rates, and a reduction of the public-sector growth rate. Other issues emphasized by the party are such as actions against violent crime and sex crime, increasing and promoting the value of working, and quality in the educational system. The party supports same-sex marriage in Sweden and Sweden's membership in the European Union. The Moderate Party considers itself as a "green-right" party.

The party campaigned for changing currency to the euro in the 2003 referendum. As of 2013, the party was still in favor of the euro, but it expressed that the issue of a membership of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and the eurozone would not be relevant until the member states have met certain strict requirements set up by the party in regard to budget deficits. In the 2024 EU elections, the Moderate Party proposed making abortion constitutionally protected in Europe.

After Fredrik Reinfeldt became leader, the party slowly moved further towards the political centre and also adopted pragmatic views. The party abandoned several of its old key features such as a proportional income tax and increased military spending. Criticism of the labour laws, its former characteristic which was neoliberal, was changed towards conserving the Swedish model and a careful embracing of balance on the labour market.

With the ascension of Anna Kinberg Batra as party leader, the party adjusted its position in the political spectrum and moved back towards the political right. The party abandoned its previously liberal stance on immigration, notably manifested by Fredrik Reinfeldt's summer speech in 2014 in which he appealed for "open hearts" to meet the expected migrant waves. The party supports border controls and tougher rules for immigrants, including temporary residence permits, stricter requirements for family reunification and cuts in welfare benefits. Swedish values was a recurring subject in Anna Kindberg Batra's speech at the Almedalen Week in 2016, and she said that immigrants should make efforts to learn the Swedish language and take part of Swedish societal orientation, or risk getting reduced benefits and harder to get permanent residence permits. Since 2015, the party has taken up its demand for increased military spending, and has supported the re-introduction of mandatory military service, inactivated in Sweden under Fredrik Reinfeldt in 2010.

Voter base

Election results

Organization

The party is organised on national, county and municipal level. Currently the party has around 600 local party associations and 26 county or city associations Each county or city association sends delegates to the party congress, which is held every third year. The 200 congress delegates elect a party chairman, two deputy party chairmen, and members of the party board. The party board appoints a party secretary.

In February 2022, the party's reported membership is 49,768 people, the second largest membership count after the Social Democrats.

Affiliated organizations

The Moderate Party has the following affiliated groups and organizations:

Moderate Youth League (Moderata ungdomsförbundet, abbr. MUF), organizes students and young members.

Moderate Seniors (Moderata seniorer [mʊdɛˈrɑ̌ːta sɛnɪˈǒːrɛr] ), organizes senior members.

Moderate Women (Moderatkvinnorna), organizes female members.

Open Moderates (Öppna moderater Swedish pronunciation: [ˈœ̂pːna mʊdɛˈrɑ̌ːtɛr]), organizes queer members.

Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students (Fria Moderata Studentförbundet) has historic ties to the Moderates, without being a member organisation as such.

Leaders

Chairpersons

Gustaf Fredrik Östberg, 1904–1905

Axel G. Svedelius, 1905–1906

Hugo Tamm, 1907

Gustaf Fredrik Östberg, 1908–1912

Arvid Lindman, 1912–1935

Gösta Bagge, 1935–1944

Fritiof Domö, 1944–1950

Jarl Hjalmarson, 1950–1961

Gunnar Heckscher, 1961–1965

Yngve Holmberg, 1965–1970

Gösta Bohman, 1970–1981

Ulf Adelsohn, 1981–1986

Carl Bildt, 1986–1999

Bo Lundgren, 1999–2003

Fredrik Reinfeldt, 2003–2015

Anna Kinberg Batra, 2015–2017

Ulf Kristersson, 2017–present

First deputy party chairpersons (since 1935)

Bernhard Johansson, 1935

Martin Skoglund, 1935–1956

Leif Cassel, 1956–1965

Gösta Bohman, 1965–1970

Staffan Burenstam Linder, 1970–1981

Lars Tobisson, 1981–1999

Chris Heister, 1999–2003

Gunilla Carlsson, 2003–2015

Peter Danielsson, 2015–2019

Elisabeth Svantesson, 2019–present

Second deputy party chairpersons (since 1935)

Karl Magnusson, 1935

Fritiof Domö, 1935–1944

Jarl Hjalmarson, 1944–1950

Knut Ewerlöf, 1950–1958

Gunnar Heckscher, 1958–1961

Rolf Eliasson, 1961–1965

Yngve Nilsson, 1965–1970

Eric Krönmark, 1970–1981

Ella Tengbom-Velander, 1981–1986

Ingegerd Troedsson, 1986–1993

Gun Hellsvik, 1993–1999

Gunilla Carlsson, 1999–2003

Kristina Axén Olin, 2003–2009

Beatrice Ask, 2009–2015

Elisabeth Svantesson, 2015–2019

Anna Tenje, 2019–present

Party secretaries (since 1949)

Gunnar Svärd, 1949–1961

Yngve Holmberg, 1961–1965

Sam Nilsson, 1965–1969

Bertil af Ugglas, 1969–1974

Lars Tobisson, 1974–1981

Georg Danell, 1981–1986

Per Unckel, 1986–1991

Gunnar Hökmark, 1991–1999

Johnny Magnusson, 1999–2003

Sven Otto Littorin, 2003–2006

Per Schlingmann, 2006–2010

Sofia Arkelsten, 2010–2012

Kent Persson, 2012–2015

Tomas Tobé, 2015–2017

Anders Edholm, 2017

Gunnar Strömmer, 2017–2022

Karin Enström, 2022–present

National ombudsmen (1909–1965)

Gustaf Gustafsson, 1909–1913

Karl Hammarberg, 1913–1915

Jonas Folcker, 1915–1920

Lennart Kolmodin, 1920–1949

Nils Hellström, 1949–1965

Prime Ministers

Christian Lundeberg, 1905

Arvid Lindman, 1906–1911

Carl Swartz, 1917

Ernst Trygger, 1923–1924

Arvid Lindman, 1928–1930

Carl Bildt, 1991–1994

Fredrik Reinfeldt, 2006–2014

Ulf Kristersson, 2022–present