Centre Democrats (Sweden)
Encyclopedia
The Centre Democrats is a minor political party
in Sweden
, founded in 1974. While the party has described itself as a "centre alternative," it has been described externally as a right-wing populist
party. It agitated against immigration from the 1980s, but toned down the issue in the 2000s, focusing more on local, social and economic issues. The party had some local representation from the 1970s, until 2006, when it lost its final local seat.
as an alliance of multiple local parties in Scania
. It was mainly modeled after the Danish Centre Democrats, including influences from Mogens Glistrup
and his Progress Party
. The party won several local municipal seats in elections during the 1970s and 1980s, and was even represented in the municipal government in Båstad
in a cooperation with the Moderate Party
after the 1979 election
. Before the 1982 election
, Harry Franzén was elected as new party chairman, and the party started to focus considerably more on immigration
issues. The party began speaking against immigrant native language education and called the refugee policy a "travel agency mafia" for refugees. During the Refugee controversy in Sjöbo
, the party supported the side of Sven-Olle Olsson.
Right after the 1988 election
, the Centre Democrats split in two factions, led by Harry Franzén and John Nielsen. Nielsen broke away in early 1989 with the local Svedala
chapter, and turned it into a local chapter of the Progress Party
. By the 1991 election
, he had however gone back to the Centre Democrats. In turn, many leading members of the Centre Democrats went over to New Democracy
by the same election. By 1997, the party had just around 300 members. For the 2006 election
the party lost its final local representation, a seat it had held in Svalöv
.
; 2 mandates in Simrishamn
and 2 in Båstad
.
1979 election
; 4 mandates in Simrishamn, 3 in Båstad, 1 in Rättvik
and 4 in Svalöv
.
1982 election
; 3 mandates in Simrishamn.
1985 election
; 2 mandates in Simrishamn.
1988 election
; 3 mandates in Simrishamn, 1 in Båstad, 2 in Svedala
and 3 in Svalöv.
1991 election
; 6 mandates in Simrishamn and 4 in Svalöv.
1994 election
; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv.
1998 election
; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv.
2002 election
; 1 mandate in Svalöv.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, founded in 1974. While the party has described itself as a "centre alternative," it has been described externally as a right-wing populist
Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...
party. It agitated against immigration from the 1980s, but toned down the issue in the 2000s, focusing more on local, social and economic issues. The party had some local representation from the 1970s, until 2006, when it lost its final local seat.
History
The party was founded in June 1974 by the lead of John Görnebrand of SimrishamnSimrishamn
Simrishamn is a locality and the seat of Simrishamn Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,546 inhabitants in 2005. Simrishamn is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city....
as an alliance of multiple local parties in Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
. It was mainly modeled after the Danish Centre Democrats, including influences from Mogens Glistrup
Mogens Glistrup
Mogens Glistrup was a controversial Danish politician, lawyer, and member of the Danish parliament and founder of the Progress Party....
and his Progress Party
Progress Party (Denmark)
The Progress Party is a political party in Denmark, which was founded in 1972. Its founder, the former lawyer Mogens Glistrup, gained huge popularity in Denmark after he appeared on Danish television, showing that he paid 0 % in income tax...
. The party won several local municipal seats in elections during the 1970s and 1980s, and was even represented in the municipal government in Båstad
Båstad
Båstad is a locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 4,793 inhabitants in 2005.-Geography:The town of Båstad is located in a sheltered bay with the Hallandian ridge stretching behind it...
in a cooperation with the Moderate Party
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
after the 1979 election
Swedish general election, 1979
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 16 September 1979. The liberal oriented interim government of Ola Ullsten was successfully succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, Moderate Party and Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin,...
. Before the 1982 election
Swedish general election, 1982
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 19 September 1982 and saw the return of the Swedish Social Democratic Party to power after six years in opposition, the longest period in opposition by the Social Democrats since the 1910s...
, Harry Franzén was elected as new party chairman, and the party started to focus considerably more on immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
issues. The party began speaking against immigrant native language education and called the refugee policy a "travel agency mafia" for refugees. During the Refugee controversy in Sjöbo
Refugee controversy in Sjöbo
The refugee controversy in Sjöbo, Sweden, refers to the surrounding events of the 1988 referendum that banned the Sjöbo Municipality from admitting foreign refugees...
, the party supported the side of Sven-Olle Olsson.
Right after the 1988 election
Swedish general election, 1988
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 18 September 1988. The elections saw the Green Party elected to parliament for the first time....
, the Centre Democrats split in two factions, led by Harry Franzén and John Nielsen. Nielsen broke away in early 1989 with the local Svedala
Svedala
Svedala is a locality and the seat of Svedala Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 9,593 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...
chapter, and turned it into a local chapter of the Progress Party
Progress Party (Sweden)
The Progress Party was a minor Swedish populist political party that existed in various forms from 1968 to the 2000s, when local parties merged with the Sweden Democrats, or developed into distinct local parties. It was based mostly in Scania, although it at times had active local chapters other...
. By the 1991 election
Swedish general election, 1991
Election to the Parliament of Sweden was held on 15 September 1991. The election, like all parliamentary elections in Sweden, was conducted using a party-list proportional representation system....
, he had however gone back to the Centre Democrats. In turn, many leading members of the Centre Democrats went over to New Democracy
New Democracy (Sweden)
New Democracy was a political party in Sweden, founded in 1991 and elected into the Swedish Parliament in its first election, falling equally fast out again in 1994....
by the same election. By 1997, the party had just around 300 members. For the 2006 election
Swedish general election, 2006
A general election was held in Sweden on 17 September 2006, to elect members to the Swedish parliament. All 349 seats were up for election: 310 "fixed seats" in 29 constituencies and 39 members at a national level for what are called "adjustment seats", used to ensure that parties have...
the party lost its final local representation, a seat it had held in Svalöv
Svalöv
Svalöv is a locality and the seat of Svalöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 3,344 inhabitants in 2005.The castle Knutstorp Borg is situated near the town. Here the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe was born.- References :...
.
Local representation
1976 electionSwedish general election, 1976
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held September 19, 1976. The result ended in an expected coalition government between the agrarian Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the conservative Moderate Party, thus forming Sweden's first non-socialist government since 1936...
; 2 mandates in Simrishamn
Simrishamn
Simrishamn is a locality and the seat of Simrishamn Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,546 inhabitants in 2005. Simrishamn is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city....
and 2 in Båstad
Båstad
Båstad is a locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 4,793 inhabitants in 2005.-Geography:The town of Båstad is located in a sheltered bay with the Hallandian ridge stretching behind it...
.
1979 election
Swedish general election, 1979
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 16 September 1979. The liberal oriented interim government of Ola Ullsten was successfully succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, Moderate Party and Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin,...
; 4 mandates in Simrishamn, 3 in Båstad, 1 in Rättvik
Rättvik
Rättvik is a locality and the seat of Rättvik Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 4,588 inhabitants in 2005. It's bandy club IFK Rättvik wants to reach the highest division Elitserien and has built an indoor arena.- References :...
and 4 in Svalöv
Svalöv
Svalöv is a locality and the seat of Svalöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 3,344 inhabitants in 2005.The castle Knutstorp Borg is situated near the town. Here the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe was born.- References :...
.
1982 election
Swedish general election, 1982
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 19 September 1982 and saw the return of the Swedish Social Democratic Party to power after six years in opposition, the longest period in opposition by the Social Democrats since the 1910s...
; 3 mandates in Simrishamn.
1985 election
Swedish general election, 1985
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 15 September 1985.-Election campaign:At a campaign meeting in Sundsvall on 22 August, Minister of social welfare Sten Andersson promised to increase the state pensions as a compensation for the price increases following the devaluation of the krona in 1982...
; 2 mandates in Simrishamn.
1988 election
Swedish general election, 1988
Elections to the Swedish Riksdag held 18 September 1988. The elections saw the Green Party elected to parliament for the first time....
; 3 mandates in Simrishamn, 1 in Båstad, 2 in Svedala
Svedala
Svedala is a locality and the seat of Svedala Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 9,593 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...
and 3 in Svalöv.
1991 election
Swedish general election, 1991
Election to the Parliament of Sweden was held on 15 September 1991. The election, like all parliamentary elections in Sweden, was conducted using a party-list proportional representation system....
; 6 mandates in Simrishamn and 4 in Svalöv.
1994 election
Swedish general election, 1994
The Swedish general election, 1994 for the 349 seats in the Parliament of Sweden took place on 18 September 1994....
; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv.
1998 election
Swedish general election, 1998
-Election results:Here are the results of the general election to the Parliament of Sweden , held on 20 September 1998.← Riksdag election, 1998 →PartyVotes%SeatsEq¹Party leader/Comment...
; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv.
2002 election
Swedish general election, 2002
The Swedish general election of 2002 was held on Sunday 15 September to elect the 349 members to the Parliament of Sweden. This election was hels along with other elections in Sweden to the Municipalities and the County Councils. 5,385,430 of the 6,722,152 eligible to vote voted in this election .-...
; 1 mandate in Svalöv.
External links
- Official website in mirrors from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...