Göran Persson may have been the last

The new normal is coalition governments

Published: Dec 27, 2020 at 5:28 a.m.

Photo: Jonas Ekströmer / TT

Aerial view of the Rosenbad government offices and the Sagerska palace on Strömgatan, the Riksbron and the Riksdag building on the right.

Göran Persson may have been the last. The last prime minister to lead a one-party government in Sweden.

Therefore, this column is not about covid-19, upcoming weekends, or vaccinations. It’s about the situation in Swedish Parliament.

For a long time after World War II, Sweden was run by the Social Democrats. During a period in the 1950s, they certainly ruled alongside the Center Party. But the normal state was definitely a Social Democratic one-party government with Tage Erlander or Olof Palme at the helm.

Many still live with the idea that this should be the case. Everything else is strange.

Sorry folks, this is no longer reality. Göran Persson may have been the last prime minister to lead a one-party government in Sweden. In any case, for a long time.

Since 1976, after a new form of government and the abolition of the bicameral parliament, Sweden has been led by a coalition half the time, 22 years. They have consisted of two, three or four games.

However, the fact that the government has been made up of a single party for as long as a coalition for the past 44 years does not really paint a correct picture.

Since the mid-1990s Until 2006, the then S-government, with Göran Persson as prime minister, maintained more or less organized cooperation with the Center Party first, then with the Green Party and the Left Party. The position of the Social Democrats in the Riksdag was too weak for those who did not cooperate would have had great difficulty in obtaining support for their budget proposal.

Sweden has simply normalized. A single dominant party belongs to the past.

But the higher the frequency of The coalitions, the most recent since 2006, are not solely due to the weakening of the Social Democrats.

Another reason is the growing number of parliamentary parties. There were five until 1988. Now there are eight parties in the Riksdag and, despite the many prophecies that one or the other will be eliminated, this has not happened. Not since New Democracy with, among others, the coup king Bert Karlsson, made a short stay almost thirty years ago.

There is nothing to suggest that we would return to the old stability with a single ruling party. It may not even be desirable. The more fragile governments give the Riksdag greater influence and thus greater vitality, and a little more chaos.

Thus, Göran Persson could, quite unwittingly, have established a historical point. As the last prime minister to lead a one-party government in Sweden.

Five things to keep in mind this week

• Finally vaccination
  The vaccine against covid-19 has been developed in record time and today the former are expected to receive their first dose. It is older and more fragile. The first 10,000 doses are divided among all regions that vaccinate 200 people except the three largest regions that reach 425 people.

• Tegnell does not rest
  The press conference of the authorities on the situation of the crown does not take a break just because it is Christmas and New Year. On Tuesday, it is time for the press conference of state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell and his colleagues as usual. Posted, of course, on aftonbladet.se for those who want to keep up to date and get their own opinion.

• Brexit for real
  The UK left the EU last January this year. But on New Year’s Day, the real goodbye comes when the eleven-month transition period ends. With or without a new trade agreement with the EU, the island nation, which was a member for 47 sometimes crybabies, is leaving the Union.

• Portugal takes over
  On New Year’s Day, Germany will hand over the renewable presidency of the EU to Portugal, a member of the EU since 1986. We all know what is on the agenda for next year. Crown, crown and crown. Like the weather and the aftermath of Brexit. That’s enough and it’s over.

• Helin reads “New Year’s Bell”
  It is true that Skansen is closed for crown, but according to the SVT chart, the New Year will still be seen in the museum’s Sollidenscen, but without an audience. Sofia Helin, best known for the television series “The Bridge”, reads this year Lord Tennyson’s classic poem “New Year’s Bell” with the stanza “Ring bell ring.”

This week’s quote

“I hope next year will be a brighter year.”

Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister, in his Christmas speech. Many agree.

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Of: Lena Mellin

Published: Dec 27, 2020 at 5:28 a.m.