The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative

political party in Sweden This article lists political parties in Sweden. Sweden has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments ...

. The party generally supports

tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions i ...

s, the

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

, civil liberties and

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...

. Internationally, it is a full member of the

International Democrat Union The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, ...

and the European People's Party. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League (''Allmänna valmansförbundet'' ) by a group of

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

in the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament. The party was later known as The Right (''Högern'' ; 1938–1952) and Right Wing Party (''Högerpartiet'' ; 1952–1969). During this time, the party was usually called the Conservative Party outside of Sweden. After holding minor posts in centre-right governments, the Moderates eventually became the leading opposition party to the Swedish Social Democratic Party and since then those two parties have dominated Swedish politics. After the 1991 Swedish general election, party leader

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

formed a minority government, the first administration since 1930 to be headed by a member of the party which lasted three years. Under party leader and Prime Minister

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He ...

, the party was returned in government after the 2006 and 2010 general elections. In 2010, the party was the leading member of the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, a centre-right coalition, along with the Centre Party (C), the Christian Democrats (KD) and the Liberal People's Party (L), and obtained its best result ever (30.1%), despite the coalition not being able to obtain majority. The current chairman of the party,

Ulf Kristersson Ulf Hjalmar Ed Kristersson (born 29 December 1963) is a Swedish politician who has been serving as Prime Minister of Sweden since October 2022. He has been the leader of the Moderate Party (M) since October 2017 and a member of the Riksdag (MP ...

, was elected at a special party congress on 1 October 2017, following

Anna Kinberg Batra Anna Maria Kinberg Batra (; ; born 14 April 1970) is a Swedish politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Moderate Party from January 2015 to October 2017. She was a Member of the Riksdag for Stockholm County from Septem ...

's sudden resignation. Kinberg Batra had replaced Reinfeldt, Prime Minister from 2006 to 2014. Under Reinfeldt's leadership, the party moved more towards the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

. Under Kristersson's leadership, the party moved back to the right and opened up to the Sweden Democrats (SD) following the 2018 Swedish general election. Having formed in late 2021 an informal right-wing alliance with SD and former Alliance members, KD and L, with Kristersson as the prime ministerial candidate, the right-wing bloc obtained a narrow win in the

2022 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...

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

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'' ( sv, Allmänna valmansförbundet, links=no). At first the party was clearly

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and staunchly

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. The importance of a strong defence was underlined and other societal institutions embraced by the party were the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

and the state of law. The party held initially a

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

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

Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

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 Salomon Arvid Achates Lindman (19 September 1862 – 9 December 1936) was a Swedish rear admiral, industrialist and conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1906 to 1911 and again from 1928 to 1930. He was also th ...

(often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and served two terms as

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 ...

, before and after the enactment of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

. In 1907 he proposed universal male suffrage to the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

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". From the beginning of the 20th century,

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

and the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

rose to replace

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

as the major political force for radical reforms. The Moderate Party intensified its opposition to socialism during the leadership of Lindman—the importance of continuance and strengthening national business were cornerstones. But at the same time, recent social issues gained significant political attention; by appeasing the working class, the party also hoped to reduce the threat of revolutionary tendencies. During the governments led by Lindman, several reforms for social progress were made, and it was his first government that initiated the public state pension. Second cabinet of Arvid Lindman

In the 1920s, the Swedish right slowly started to move towards a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

view on economic issues, mainly under the influence of the liberal economist

Gustav Cassel Karl Gustav Cassel (20 October 1866 – 14 January 1945) was a Swedish economist and professor of economics at Stockholm University. Work Cassel's perspective on economic reality, and especially on the role of interest, was rooted in British n ...

, but the economic downturn following the Great Depression frustrated the possible liberal transition of their economic policy. Before that occurred the party gained its greatest success yet with 29.4% in the general election of 1928, often called the ''Cossack Election'', on a clearly anti-socialist programme. The government later formed by the party did not accept the concept of the market economy but continued the protectionist policy by generous financial aid. The government also began complete regulation of agriculture. Production associations, with the objective to administer the regulations and running monopolies on imports, were also established during the period. All this made for a

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

control of the Swedish economy unsurpassed since the popularisation of liberalism at the end of the 19th century. The government of Lindman fell in 1930 after the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

and the Freeminded People's Party had blocked a proposition for raised customs duty on grain. The 1930s saw the party in conflict over how to relate to the rising threat of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

and

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. Its loosely affiliated youth organisation, the National Youth League of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbund, links=no) 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, with Lindman clearly stating that pro-Nazi views were not to be accepted in the party, 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 Moderate Youth League or ''The Young Swedes'' (currently the largest youth league in Sweden in terms of membership), the core of the old one (in spite of some districts, such as Young Swedes- Gothenburg joining the new one) set up its own party—the National League of Sweden—which fought elections as an openly pro-Nazi party and temporarily gained parliamentary representation in the shape of three rightists MPs.

National Organization of the Right (1938–1952)

The party participated in the

third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson The third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson ( sv, Regeringen Hansson III) was the cabinet of Sweden between 13 December 1939 and 31 July 1945. It consisted of members from the Social Democratic Party, the Farmers' League, the People's Party and the ...

during the Second World War. It was a grand coalition including all major parties, only excluding the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 ( sv, Högerns riksorganisation, links=no ), 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 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 ( sv, Högerpartiet); its name outside Sweden remained ''Conservative Party.'' Under the leadership of Jarl Hjalmarson (1950–1961) the party became an important voice against the rising levels of taxation and a defender of private ownership from, what the party saw as, the growing tendencies of

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

centralization. The party had significant success in the elections during the 1950s and became the largest party of the opposition in 1958. But the next decade brought changes to the political climate of Sweden. The election of 1968 gave the Social Democrats an

absolute majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

in the parliament and reduced the Rightist Party to become the smallest party of 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 ultra-conservative image, in 1969, the party changed its name to the Moderate Coalition Party ( sv, Moderata Samlingspartiet, links=no, 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 Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econo ...

. 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 Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

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 Nils Olof Thorbjörn Fälldin (24 April 1926 – 23 July 2016) was a Swedish politician. He was Prime Minister of Sweden in three non-consecutive cabinets from 1976 to 1982, and leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 1971 to 1985. On his ...

, 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 party after the Social Democrats, a position it has held since then. Gösta Bohman was in 1981 replaced by Ulf Adelsohn. In 1986,

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

. The cabinet of Carl Bildt did much to reform the Swedish government: they cut taxes, cut

public spending Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...

, 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 The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

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 continues to receive praise from younger members. Former head of the Moderate Youth

was elected as the new party leader in 2003. Prior to the 2006 general election, the Moderate Party adjusted its position in the political spectrum, moving towards the centre-right. To reflect these changes, the party's unofficial name was altered to The New Moderates (Swedish: ''De Nya Moderaterna'' ). This has included focus on proactive measures against unemployment, lower taxes combined with reforms to strengthen the Swedish welfare state. The Moderate Party has since 2006 used the slogan "the Swedish Workers' Party", a slogan formerly synonymous with the

. In the 2006 general election, the Moderate Party enjoyed its best result since 1928 with 26.2% of the votes. The Moderate Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden, a political and electoral alliance, along with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats prior to this election. After the election, the Alliance for Sweden was able to form a coalition government. Party leader

took office as

on 6 October 2006 along with his cabinet. In the 2010 general election, the Moderate Party performed their best results, since the introduction of

in 1919, with 30.1% of the votes. However, the minor parties in the

performed relatively poorly, and the Reinfeldt cabinet continued in office as a minority government. He is the longest-serving non–

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

Prime Minister since Erik Gustaf Boström who left office in 1900. In the 2014 European elections, the Moderate Party came in third place nationally with 13.6% of the vote, returning 3 MEPs. In the 2014 general election, the Red-Green coalition outpolled Reinfeldt's incumbent

coalition, prompting its resignation. The Social Democrat

Stefan Löfven Kjell Stefan Löfven (; officially ''Löfvén''; born 21 July 1957) is a Swedish politician who serves as the President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden from October 2014 to November 20 ...

became Prime Minister on 3 October 2014.

was elected to succeed Reinfeldt as party leader on 10 January 2015.

succeeded Kinberg-Batra on 1 October 2017. The Moderate Party made its worst election result since 2002 in the 2018 general election. Ulf Kristersson announced that the party would "create a new Swedish Model" at the Moderate Party Congress on 5 April 2019 and also that the party would be phasing out the New Moderates name. The party also presented its new logo, the old ''M'' logo which was used between 1972 and 2006 was adopted again. The change in logo was seen by analysts as a way to show that the party breaks with Reinfeldt's policies. Ulf Kristersson was also critical to

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

. Kristersson held a meeting in December 2019 with Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, and said that he would cooperate with them in parliament. The anti-immigration party had previously been subject to a ''

cordon sanitaire ''Cordon sanitaire'' () is French for "sanitary cordon". It may refer to: *Cordon sanitaire (medicine), a cordon that quarantines an area during an infectious disease outbreak *Cordon sanitaire (politics), refusal to cooperate with certain politic ...

'' by all other parties, with Kristersson himself ruling out dialogue with them ahead of the 2018 elections. According to Ann-Cathrine Jungar of Södertörn University, this put Sweden in line with several other European countries in which centre-right and radical-right parties cooperate. In October 2022, the

Tidö Agreement The Tidö Agreement ( sv, Tidöavtalet) is a political agreement of Riksdag parties from the right-wing bloc ( Sweden Democrats, Moderate Party, Christian Democrats and Liberals) for appointing Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Party as Prime Mi ...

was formed, which led to the formation of the

Kristersson Cabinet The Kristersson Cabinet (Swedish: ''Regeringen Kristersson'') is the 57th Government of Sweden and is formed by Ulf Kristersson, leader of Moderate Party. It is a coalition government consisting of three parties: the Moderate Party, the Christia ...

as Sweden's government. On 18 October 2022,

became the new Prime Minister of Sweden. Moderates formed a centre-right coalition with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. The new government will be backed by the biggest right-wing party, Sweden Democrats (SD), meaning tougher immigration policies as a crucial part of a policy deal with the SD. Soon after his appointment, new foreign minister,

Tobias Billström Tobias Lennart Billström (born 27 December 1973) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since 18 October 2022 and has been Member of the Riksdag since th ...

of Moderate Party, announced that Sweden will renounce " feminist foreign policy", implemented by the previous left-wing government.

Ideology and political positions

Fredrik Reinfeldt visits Bush at White House, May 15, 2007, cropped to Reinfeldt

The Moderate Party states that its ideology is a mix of

and

conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

, 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

rather than

progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...

or social liberalism in countries such as Canada or the United States. The party supports

s 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 educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

. The party supports same-sex marriage in Sweden and Sweden's membership in the

. Moderate Party consider itself as a "green-right" party. The party campaigned for changing currency to the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

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. After

became leader, the party slowly moved further towards the

political centre Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

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

as party leader, the party adjusted its position in the political spectrum and moved back towards the

political right Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, auth ...

. 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. The party is in favour of Swedish membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and supported Sweden's application for membership. The party expressed a wish that a membership is applied for together with

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

which is what happened in May 2022.

Voter base

Statistical changes in voter base

Electoral history

ImageSize = width:1200 height:240 PlotArea = width:1000 height:160 left:100 bottom:60 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:45 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors = id:SB value:rgb(0.0039,0.6118,0.8588) PlotData = bar:% color:SB width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1911 from:start till:31.3 text:31.3 bar:1914 from:start till:37.7 text:37.7 bar:1914-2 from:start till:36.7 text:36.7 bar:1917 from:start till:24.7 text:24.7 bar:1920 from:start till:27.9 text:27.9 bar:1921 from:start till:25.8 text:25.8 bar:1924 from:start till:26.1 text:26.1 bar:1928 from:start till:29.4 text:29.4 bar:1932 from:start till:23.1 text:23.1 bar:1936 from:start till:17.6 text:17.6 bar:1940 from:start till:18.0 text:18.0 bar:1944 from:start till:15.9 text:15.9 bar:1948 from:start till:12.34 text:12.3 bar:1952 from:start till:14.37 text:14.4 bar:1956 from:start till:17.11 text:17.1 bar:1958 from:start till:19.52 text:19.5 bar:1960 from:start till:16.57 text:16.6 bar:1964 from:start till:13.7 text:13.7 bar:1968 from:start till:13.88 text:13.9 bar:1970 from:start till:11.53 text:11.5 bar:1973 from:start till:14.29 text:14.3 bar:1976 from:start till:15.59 text:15.6 bar:1979 from:start till:20.34 text:20.3 bar:1982 from:start till:23.64 text:23.6 bar:1985 from:start till:21.33 text:21.3 bar:1988 from:start till:18.3 text:18.3 bar:1991 from:start till:21.92 text:21.9 bar:1994 from:start till:22.38 text:22.4 bar:1998 from:start till:22.9 text:22.9 bar:2002 from:start till:15.13 text:15.1 bar:2006 from:start till:26.23 text:26.2 bar:2010 from:start till:30.1 text:30.1 bar:2014 from:start till:23.2 text:23.2 bar:2018 from:start till:19.8 text:19.8 bar:2022 from:start till:19.1 text:19.1

Parliament (''Riksdag'')

European Parliament

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 The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...

, 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 December 2009, the party's reported membership was 55,612 people, the second largest membership after the

Affiliated organizations

The Moderate Party has the following affiliated groups and organizations: * Moderate Youth League (''Moderata ungdomsförbundet'', MUF), organizes young members * Moderate Seniors (''Moderata seniorer'' ), organizes senior members * Moderate Women (''Moderatkvinnorna''), organizes female members * Open Moderates (''Öppna moderater'' ), organizes

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

members

Leaders

Chairpersons

Gustaf Fredrik Östberg Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

, 1904–1905 *

Axel G. Svedelius Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque ...

, 1905–1906 * Hugo Tamm, 1907 *

, 1908–1912 *

, 1912–1935 * Gösta Bagge, 1935–1944 * Fritiof Domö, 1944–1950 * Jarl Hjalmarson, 1950–1961 *

Gunnar Heckscher Gunnar Edvard Heckscher (8 July 190924 November 1987) was a Swedish political scientist and leader of the Rightist Party (), which later became the Moderate Party. Biography Heckscher was born in Djursholm, son of economist Eli Heckscher and wr ...

, 1961–1965 *

Yngve Holmberg Yngve Holmberg (21 March 1925 – 29 October 2011) was a Swedish politician in the Moderate Party, who was its leader from 1965 to 1970. * Gösta Bohman, 1970–1981 * Ulf Adelsohn, 1981–1986 *

, 1986–1999 * Bo Lundgren, 1999–2003 *

, 2003–2015 *

, 2015–2017 *

, 2017–present

First deputy party chairpersons (since 1935)

Bernhard Johansson Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

, 1935 * Martin Skoglund, 1935–1956 * Leif Cassel, 1956–1965 * Gösta Bohman, 1965–1970 *

Staffan Burenstam Linder Hans Martin Staffan Burenstam Linder (née Linder; 13 September 1931 – 22 July 2000) was a Swedish economist and conservative politician, who was Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1976 to 1978 and from 1979 to 1981. He was the president o ...

, 1970–1981 * Lars Tobisson, 1981–1999 * Chris Heister, 1999–2003 *

Gunilla Carlsson Anna Gunilla Carlsson is a Swedish politician and a member of the Moderate Party. She served as Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2013, member of the Swedish Riksdag from 2002 to 2013 and deputy chairman of her part ...

, 2003–2015 *

Peter Danielsson Peter Erik Danielsson (born 1974) is a Swedish Moderate Party politician who has served as the Mayor of Helsingborg from November 2006 to October 2022. He served as Deputy Leader of the Moderate Party from January 2015 to October 2019. He was a ...

, 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 *

, 1958–1961 * Rolf Eliasson, 1961–1965 * Yngve Nilsson, 1965–1970 * Eric Krönmark, 1970–1981 * Ella Tengbom-Velander, 1981–1986 *

Ingegerd Troedsson Ingegerd Troedsson (5 June 1929 – 3 November 2012) was a Swedish Moderate Party politician. She served as the first female Speaker of the Riksdag. She was born in Vaxholm and was elected to the Riksdag in 1974. She had a junior role in the non- ...

, 1986–1993 * Gun Hellsvik, 1993–1999 *

, 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 Yngve Holmberg (21 March 1925 – 29 October 2011) was a Swedish politician in the Moderate Party, who was its leader from 1965 to 1970.Sam Nilsson, 1965–1969 * Bertil af Ugglas, 1969–1974 * Lars Tobisson, 1974–1981 *

Georg Danell Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) George is a surname of Irish, English, Welsh, South Indian Christian, Middle Eastern Christian (usually Lebanese), French, or ...

, 1981–1986 * Per Unckel, 1986–1991 * Gunnar Hökmark, 1991–1999 *

Johnny Magnusson Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

, 1999–2003 *

Sven Otto Littorin Sven Otto Julius Littorin (born 1966) is a Swedish former politician and architect of major structural reforms. As Minister for Employment in the cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt, he was in charge of the major overhaul of Swedish labor policies between ...

, 2003–2006 *

Per Schlingmann Per Schlingmann (; born 16 October 1970 in Borås) was the party secretary of the Swedish Moderate Party between 28 September 2006 and 1 October 2010 (succeeding Sven Otto Littorin), and a prominent figure in its political reorientation following ...

, 2006–2010 *

Sofia Arkelsten Hanna ''Sofia'' Margareta Arkelsten (born 6 December 1976 in Stockholm) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. She served as member of the Swedish Riksdag from 2006 to 2018, representing her home constituency of Stockholm Municipality. ...

, 2010–2012 * Kent Persson, 2012–2015 *

Tomas Tobé Tomas Gunnar Tobé (born 16 February 1978) is a Swedish politician and who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since the 2019 European Parliament election in Sweden. He was the party secretary of the Moderate Party from 10 Ja ...

, 2015–2017 * Anders Edholm, 2017 *

Gunnar Strömmer Gunnar Sören Folke Strömmer (born 19 September 1972) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has served as Minister for Justice (Sweden), minister for justice in the Kristersson Cabinet, cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since October 2022 a ...

, 2017–2022 *

Karin Enström Karin Märta Elisabeth Enström (born Landerholm 23 March 1966) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. She has served as Secretary-General of the Moderate Party since October 2022 and has been Member of the Riksdag since the 1998 genera ...

, 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 Christian Lundeberg (14 July 1842 – 10 November 1911) was a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 2 August to 7 November 1905. Biography Lundeberg was born in Valbo, Gävleborg County. He was the son of Johan Ulrik ...

, 1905 *

, 1906–1911 * Carl Swartz, 1917 * Ernst Trygger, 1923–1924 *

, 1928–1930 *

, 1991–1994 *

, 2006–2014 *