The June List ( sv, Junilistan, jl) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, Eurosceptic

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. Founded in 2004, it received 14% in the

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of the same year - gaining three seats. In the elections of 2009, however, it saw a drop of 11 percentage points in support and lost all of its seats. It currently holds no seats in parliament and does not play any active role in Swedish politics. The party also ran in the Swedish 2006 parliamentary election, but it only received 0.47% of the votes, far below the 4% needed to get into parliament.

History

Foundation

The party was formed in 2004, in the wake of the Swedish

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 . ...

referendum held in September 2003, in which the adoption of the euro was rejected. The party's co-founder is Nils Lundgren, a former member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and chief economist of the bank

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, who is sceptical of the

. Lundgren hoped to receive support from eurosceptical voters dissatisfied with their usual parties' positive attitudes towards the euro and further European integration. Among the Swedish parties represented in parliament at the time, only the Left Party, Center Party and the

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 ...

were eurosceptic, while the Social Democratic Party, the major left-wing party, and all right-wing parties with exception of the Center party were positive towards European integration. Aiming at receiving support from this broad political spectrum, the board of the party contained people that had been previously active in both left- and right-wing parties. The party takes its name from the

June Movement The June Movement ( da, JuniBevægelsen) was a Danish Eurosceptic political organisation founded 23 August 1992. It took its name from the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty that took place in Denmark in June of that year. The movement was a m ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, which is a eurosceptic party named after the timing of the Danish

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

that rejected the

Treaty of Maastricht The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the pr ...

. The June Movement was also a major source of inspiration for the June List.

2004 European Parliament election

The party succeeded in capturing 14% of the votes in the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

, thereby gaining three of the 19 Swedish seats. The three MEPs were Nils Lundgren, former social democrat Hélène Goudin and former

Christian democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

Lars Wohlin. In 2006 Wohlin, left the June List for the Christian Democrats, leaving the party with only two seats. Wohlin stated that he wanted to be able to "work for the Christian Democrats and the Alliance for Sweden in the 2006 parliamentary election" as reason for leaving the June List. The June List was one of the founding members of the Independence and Democracy group in the European Parliament.

2006 elections

The June List was on the ballot for the 2006 parliamentary elections in Sweden. The party's platform during the election focused on a few main issues: to increase the number of people working in the private sector, hence increasing the state's tax income, a referendum on the European Union constitution and nuclear power, and increased municipal autonomy and more local referendums. All issues that were not in the party's relatively short party program were left to the approximately 100 candidates to decide on. The voters were encouraged to choose to vote for a particular June List candidate that they preferred rather than to cast a general ballot for the party itself. At one point it seemed possible that the party might be able to break the 4% threshold necessary to enter parliament, with the party reaching 4.5% in the polls in September 2005, but after that peak the party's support plummeted well below the 4% barrier and in the months before the election it became clear that the party would not be taking seats in parliament that year. In the end, the party received only 26,072 votes (0.47%).Swedish Election Authority
/ref> Swedish businessman Sven Hagströmer, one of the two men who gave his name to the Hagströmer & Qviberg group of companies, served on the board of the party.

2009 European Parliament election

The June List suffered a significant decline in its support at the 2009 election and lost all of its seats in the European parliament.

References

External links

Junilistan
{{Swedish political parties 2004 establishments in Sweden Eurosceptic parties in Sweden Political parties established in 2004 Defunct political parties in Sweden