General elections were held in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

on 14 September 2014 to elect all 349 seats in the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, alongside elections for the 21

county councils A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

, and 290 municipal assemblies. The centre-right

Alliance for Sweden The Alliance ( sv, Alliansen), formerly the Alliance for Sweden (''Allians för Sverige''), was a centre-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden. The Alliance consisted of the four centre-right political parties in the Riksdag. Th ...

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

(comprising the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic ...

, Liberal People's Party, Centre Party, and

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

) sought a third term in government. In contrast to the previous election, the three largest parties on the left (the Social Democrats,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

, and Left Party) ran independent campaigns, as did the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Sweden Democrats. The left-wing party, Feminist Initiative, did not pass the 4% threshold. The election result saw the largest three parties on the left outpoll the Alliance for Sweden, with the two blocs respectively winning 159 and 141 seats. The Sweden Democrats doubled their support and won the remaining 49 seats. The party's biggest gain came from gaining about the same number of the vote share as the Moderate Party lost but also made strong inroads into traditionally red municipalities in the central region of Svealand. The Sweden Democrats also became the largest party in two rural municipalities in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

in the party's southern heartlands. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the incumbent prime minister, lost his bid for a third term. On 3 October, he was replaced by Stefan Löfven, who formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in t ...

consisting of the Social Democrats and Greens. With the result being a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

, this led to the ''December Agreement'' to allow the red-green government to pass its budgets after a government crisis later in the autumn. The leftist parties became the largest courtesy of the collapse of the Alliance vote share into the Sweden Democrat fold, rather than making any sizeable gains. As a result, very few counties returned other results than hung parliament delegations, even historical Social Democratic strongholds such as

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's sec ...

Dalarna Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Norwa ...

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västm ...

and

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ), is a historical Swedish province, or ''landskap'', in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "(The) Land of the Western Men", where the "western men" (''v� ...

saw the red-greens failed to secure an outright majority in spite of the election win. The 138 seats for the government (37 short of a majority), made it the cabinet with the lowest seat share in Swedish history to begin a term.

Background

The 2010 general election saw the incumbent

returned to power, though it lost its majority in the Riksdag and had to continue as a

. The coalition relied on ''ad hoc'' support from the opposition to pass legislation, particularly the

. Immigration critics Sweden Democrats entered the Riksdag for the first time in 2010 and was an isolated part of the opposition, in many cases voting with the government when the two blocs were divided. The Alliance got its budget passed on all occasions, but suffered a key loss when the opposition 'took out' a passage regarding the increased cutoff for when state income tax should be paid in late 2013. The previous parliament had also passed some amendments to the

Constitution of Sweden The Basic Laws of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges grundlagar) are the four constitutional laws of the Kingdom of Sweden that regulate the Swedish political system, acting in a similar manner to the constitutions of most countries. These four laws are: th ...

. Election days were moved from the third Sunday of September to the second Sunday of the same month. Another change was that the incumbent

Prime Minister of Sweden The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are su ...

, should he or she not resign immediately after the election, must be approved by the new Riksdag.

Incumbent parties

The

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(S; Socialdemokraterna) was the largest political party in the Swedish Riksdag with 112 of the 349 seats. The Social Democratic Party had led a single-party

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

from 1994 to 2006, and had been the major political power of Sweden for much of the 20th century. For the 2010 general election the Social Democratic Party collaborated with the Green Party and the Left Party and sought to form a Red-Green coalition government. Similar cooperation did not take place prior to the 2014 election. Their current

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

Stefan Löfven has said they could potentially collaborate with the Centre Party and the Liberal People's Party in a future government. By the 2014 general election the Social Democratic Party had been in opposition for eight years, the longest such period in over 100 years. The

(M; Moderaterna) was the second-largest party in the Riksdag with 107 seats. It was the largest governing party under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Fredrik Reinfeldt, who was also its leader. Prior to the 2006 general election the Moderate Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition, together with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the

. After the 2006 election they were able to form a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

s, currently

Gustav Fridolin Per Gustav Edvard Fridolin (born 10 May 1983) is a Swedish journalist, author, teacher and former politician who served as Minister for Education from 2014 to 2019 and as one of two spokespersons of the Green Party from 2011 to 2019. He was a ...

and

Isabella Lövin Isabella Lövin (born 3 February 1963) is a Swedish politician for the Green Party. She served as Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2014 to 2019, as Minister for the Environment from 2019 to 2021 and as honorary Deputy Pri ...

. The Green Party had participated in the Red-Green coalition prior to the 2010 general election. The coalition, however, lost that election, although the Green Party itself gained seats. The party has shown interest in participating in a future government, but has not made clear with whom. The Liberal People's Party (FP; Folkpartiet Liberalerna) was the fourth-largest party in the Riksdag with 24 seats. The party had since 2010 been the second-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt. Current

Jan Björklund Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish Liberal politician. He was member of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2019, representing Stockholm County, and served as leader of the Liberals from 2007 to 2019. Björklund served as Minister for ...

was

Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden The deputy prime minister of Sweden ( sv, Ställföreträdande statsminister) is the deputy head of government of Sweden. The incumbent deputy prime minister is Ebba Busch. The Swedish constitution allows the prime minister to appoint one of ...

and Sweden's Minister for Education. Prior to the 2006 general election the Liberal People's Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition together with the Moderate Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010. The Centre Party (C; Centerpartiet) was the fifth-largest party in the Riksdag with 23 seats. The party had since 2010 been the third-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt, having been the second-largest from 2006 to 2010. Current party leader Annie Lööf was Sweden's Minister for Enterprise. Prior to the 2006 general election the Centre Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition together with the Moderate Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010. The Sweden Democrats (SD; Sverigedemokraterna) was the sixth-largest party in the Riksdag with 20 seats. In the 2010 general election, the party had for the first time ever passed the 4% election threshold and entered the Riksdag. The party leader was

Jimmie Åkesson Per Jimmie Åkesson (; born 17 May 1979) is a Swedish politician and author, serving as leader of the Sweden Democrats since 2005. He has been a member of the Riksdag (SD) for Jönköping County since 2010. He previously served as leader of the ...

. The other Riksdag parties have repeatedly stated that they will not cooperate with the Sweden Democrats in a future government. The Left Party (V; Vänsterpartiet) was the seventh-largest party in the Riksdag with 19 seats. The current party leader was

Jonas Sjöstedt Jonas Sjöstedt (born 25 December 1964) is a Swedish politician who was the chairman of the Left Party from 2012 until 2020, and a former metalworker. He is also a member of the Swedish parliament since 2010. Sjöstedt was born in Gothenburg ...

. The Left Party had participated in the Red-Green coalition prior to the 2010 general election which sought confidence to govern Sweden; however, this coalition lost the election. The party has shown interest in participating in a future government consisting of the Red-Green parties. The party has said that it will not support a future government of which it is not a part. The Christian Democrats (KD; Kristdemokraterna) was the eighth-largest party in the Riksdag with 19 seats. It was the fourth-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt. The current party leader Göran Hägglund was Sweden's Minister for Health and Social Affairs. Prior to the 2006 general election the Christian Democrats had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition, together with the Moderate Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Centre Party. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010. Party leaders debates "Partiledardebatt"

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

, 1 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven,

(MP),

(FP), Annie Lööf (C),

(SD),

(V) and Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators:

Karin Magnusson Karin may refer to: *Karin (given name), a feminine name Fiction * ''Karin'' (manga) or ''Chibi Vampire'', a Japanese media franchise * Karin Hanazono, title character of the manga and anime ''Kamichama Karin'' * Karin Kurosaki, a character in '' ...

and

Malvina Britts Malvina is a feminine given name derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''Mala-mhìn'', meaning "smooth brow". It was popularized by the 18th century Scottish poet James Macpherson. Other names popularised by Macpherson became popular in Scandinavia o ...

. "Partiledardebatt 2014"

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

, September, 3rd 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S),

Åsa Romson Åsa Elisabeth Romson (born 22 March 1972) is a Swedish politician who was the Minister for the Environment and ceremonial Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden in the Swedish Government from 2014 to 2016. She is a member of the Green Party and serve ...

(MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V) and Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderator: Niklas Svensson. "Partiledardebatt" SR P1, 10 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Åsa Romson (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators:

Monica Saarinen Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

and Lasse Johansson. "Debatten" TV4, 11 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Åsa Romson (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Jenny Strömstedt and Anders Pihlblad. "Slutdebatten" SVT, 12 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Gustav Fridolin (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Anna Hedenmo and Mats Knutson.

Leadership changes

The election took place with several changes in party leadership from the 2010 election.

Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic party leader Mona Sahlin stepped down after her party's poor election results in 2010. She was replaced by Håkan Juholt at the party congress on 25 March 2011. Juholt was previously the chairman for the parliamentary committee on defence issues (försvarsutskottet), and a 16-year MP representing

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

. At the time of his appointment, Juholt was considered by political commentators to represent the more traditional left wing of the Social Democratic Party. However, Juholt's time as party chairman only lasted ten months before he resigned on 21 January 2012 amid controversy surrounding a political affair. The party executive board announced their endorsement of Stefan Löfven as the new party chairman on 26 January 2012; he was elected chairman of the party by members the following day. Löfven was the chairman of IF Metall until his appointment and has had a long career as a trade union leader. As Löfven was not an elected MP, he remained unable to participate in the day-to-day activities and debates in the

Green Party

The Green Party's co-spokespeople both stepped down, having both served the maximum nine years allowed by the party's constitution, and were officially replaced by a party congress in May 2011. A nominating committee nominated

( MP for Skåne Northern and Eastern) and

(party spokesperson for environmental and climate policy, and MP for

Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality or the City of Stockholm ( sv, Stockholms kommun or ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, m ...

). However, economic policy spokesperson

Mikaela Valtersson Mikaela Valtersson (born 6 January 1967) is a Swedish Green Party politician. She was a member of the Riksdag from 2002 until 2011. External linksMikaela Valterssonat the Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag ...

also expressed her intention to challenge Romson for the nomination. Other candidates identified by the press included

Yvonne Ruwaida Yvonne Ruwaida (born 14 August 1970 in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany) is a Swedish Green Party politician of Palestinian origin. She was a member of the Parliament of Sweden from 1994 to 2006. As a member of parliament, Ruwaida together wi ...

and Carl Schlyter. On 21 May 2011, the party congress elected Fridolin and Romson as the party's new co-spokespersons.

Centre Party

In June 2011,

Maud Olofsson Maud Elisabeth Olofsson (born ''Olsson'', 9 August 1955) is a former Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden ...

announced that she would not stand for re-election as leader of the Centre Party. On 23 September 2011, Annie Lööf was elected as the party's new leader.

Left Party

In August 2011,

Lars Ohly Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly (; born 13 January 1957) is a Swedish politician, and the former party chairman of the Swedish Left Party. He was a member of the Swedish parliament from 1998 to 2014. Early life and career Lars Ohly was ...

, the leader of the Left Party, made public that he would step down after the party's poor showing in the election. Ohly stated he would remain an MP. Jonas Sjöstedt was elected new party leader at the party congress on 6 January 2012.

Christian Democrats

At the national party conference in January 2012, the Christian Democrats leader Göran Hägglund was challenged for the leadership by MP and former cabinet minister Mats Odell. The leadership battle ended in a vote at the conference, where Hägglund prevailed. Afterwards, Odell announced that he would resign as leader of the party's parliamentary group, and not seek reelection in 2014.

Opinion polls

Results

The election was apart from the sharp decline of the Moderates and the sharp rise of the Sweden Democrats very similar to 2010. The Feminist Initiative numbers in addition to the other three left of centre-parties indicated a further difference not shown in the division of the mandates, due to FI missing the cutoff point. Still, the Sweden Democrats formally held the balance of power, but neither bloc was willing to go to government with their active support. The Social Democrats got the first go at forming a government after eight years in opposition as Moderate prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned on election night.

Seat distribution

Results by municipality

File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Socialdemokraterna).svg, Social Democratic File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Moderaterna).svg, Moderate File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Sverigedemokraterna).svg, Sweden Democrats File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Miljöpartiet).svg, Green File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Centerpartiet).svg, Centre File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Vänsterpartiet).svg, Left File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Folkpartiet).svg, Liberal People's Party File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Kristdemokraterna).svg, Christian Democrats File:Riksdagsvalet 2014 (Feministiskt initiativ).svg, Feminist Initiative File:Swedish Election 2014 Redgreen vs Alliance scale.png, Shaded, red (S+V+MP) to blue (M+C+FP+KD)

Government formation

The Social Democrats declared that they would seek to form a government, but would not work with the Sweden Democrats. Fredrik Reinfeldt announced he was stepping down as leader of the Moderate Party. The Centre Party and Liberal People's Party rejected the Social Democrats' overtures for a coalition, and the day after the election Stefan Löfven ruled out the possibility of forming a government with the Left Party. This raised the possibility of a minority coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens alone. On 2 October 2014 the Riksdag elected Löfven as Prime Minister, heading the Löfven Cabinet consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens. On 3 December 2014 the government failed to push through its budget after the Sweden Democrats voted with the centre-right opposition, that along with the Sweden Democrats had a sizeable majority for the budget in parliament (those five parties won 190 seats to 159 for the government and the Left Party). Löfven told in a press conference, that an extra election were to be expected and to be held on 22 March. According to the Swedish constitution this election could not be called until 29 December. On 27 December, this new election was cancelled as the Social Democrats and the Greens made an agreement with the Alliance parties which will allow the government's subsequent budgets to pass the Riksdag in return for concessions regarding immigration policy, defence and pensions.

References

{{Swedish elections General elections in Sweden

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...