Per Alfred Petersson (as a parliamentarian referred to as Alfred Petersson i Påboda, i.e. "in Påboda", after his home farm, and often just "Påboda") (25 June 1860 – 11 October 1920) was a Swedish politician and minister for agriculture in several cabinets. Petersson was born into a well-to-do farmer's family in Söderåkra parish,

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. Geo ...

, and took over the family farm Påboda in 1887. He was active in local and regional politics. In 1894 he both became a member of the Kalmar County Council and was elected member of the Second Chamber of the

Swedish parliament 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 s ...

. Appointed minister of agriculture in the short-lived coalition cabinet of

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 ...

, formed in 1905 specifically to handle the issue of the dissolution of the union with Norway, he was the first farmer to become a member of the Swedish cabinet and took an active part in the negotiations with Norway. He was instrumental in the downfall of the liberal cabinet of Karl Staaff in 1906 over the issue of

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

. Staaff's proposition was to extend the right to vote to adult males having paid their state and municipal taxes. The so-called ''Påboda program'' was to have proportional elections to both parliamentary chambers, rather than the

majoritarian system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

in place and retained in the Staaff proposition. After the first chamber preferred the Påboda program to Staaff's proposition, the cabinet resigned. Petersson was offered the premiership by the king, but declined and accepted the ministry of agriculture once more in the cabinet of the conservative leader

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 ...

. The new suffrage proposition presented by the Lindman cabinet was based on Petersson's original program, with some changes, was accepted by both chambers in 1907 and finally became law in 1909. Petersson resigned from the cabinet in 1909 (together with the minister of foreign affairs Erik Birger Trolle and the minister without portfolio Gustaf Roos) because of a disagreement with Lindman over the work of the parliamentary committees and the interpretation of the ''Riksdagsordningen'' (or R.O., the law regulating the work of the parliament). Petersson joined the Liberal party and was reelected as a representative in the First Chamber for that party and the

Gävleborg County Gävleborg County ( sv, Gävleborgs län) is a county or '' län'' on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders the counties of Uppsala, Västmanland, Dalarna, Jämtland and Västernorrland. The capital is Gävle. Provinces Gävleborg Cou ...

in 1910 but sat as member for

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...

from 1911 and finally for

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

from 1919 until his death the following year. He was again minister of agriculture in the second Staaff cabinet 1911-1914 and finally, for the fourth time, in the coalition cabinet of

Nils Edén Nils Edén (25 August 1871 – 16 June 1945) was a Swedish historian and liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1917 to 1920, and along with Hjalmar Branting acknowledged as co-architect of Sweden's transition from a c ...

1917-1920. After the resignation of the Edén cabinet in March 1920, he was appointed

Governor of Stockholm County This is a list of governors for Stockholm County of Sweden. Stockholm County separated from Uppland County, the first time from 1641 to 1654, and then finally in 1719. The Cities of Sweden, City of Stockholm was separately governed by the Governo ...

, but died on his farm Påboda in October, before actually taking office.

References

*''

Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

'', Vol. 21 (1915), col
688 f
and Vol. 37 (Supplement, 1925), col

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersson, Alfred 1860 births 1920 deaths Swedish farmers Governors of Stockholm County Members of the Första kammaren Members of the Andra kammaren