Sweden: Political parties at a glance

The Centerpartiet ("Center Party") is a party that has existed since 1910 and sees itself as representing the interests of farmers and owners of small businesses, and has been prime minister three times in its history, most recently with Thorbjörn Fälldin between 1979 and 1982. It belongs to the bourgeois bloc and is a party that can count on support, especially in rural regions, pursues green policies and advocates liberal immigration laws, a strong European Union and a free market economy. At the same time, however, it has visibly slid to the right on certain social policy issues in recent years and is, for example, opposed to trade unions and in favor of loosening protection against dismissal. The party sees itself as a people's movement and refers to roots in "peasants who owned their own farms and fought for their freedom." The party claims to stand for ecologically sustainable solutions, to show consideration for the environment and to defend people's right to shape their own lives - "regardless of who they were or where they came from."

Founded in 1964, the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna) is one of the younger parties in Sweden's political landscape, initially entering as an advocacy group for Christian values, but since 1987 has relied on a party program that is noticeably less religious-based. The party is considered a center-right party with conservative positions that, according to its own statements, puts "human values first" and is primarily concerned with issues such as care, concerns of the elderly and security. The party has its roots in the Christian Democratic movement, which gained influence after World War II as a reaction to Nazism in Germany and völkisch movements in Sweden. The party advocates a common migration policy for all Nordic countries, but has recently adopted more restrictive positions, arguing, for example, against multiculturalism and in favor of a shift in competence from the European Union to the nation-states.

The Liberals ("Liberalerna") are the strongest party in Sweden's liberal spectrum. The economic liberal party, which advocates greater European integration, emerged from several liberal currents and mergers of different parties and has its roots in the struggle for the right to vote for all women and men and against privileges of the upper class and unequal power relations at the time. The party sees itself as a "defender of the freedom of each individual to shape his or her own life." In terms of social policy, for example, the party fights to combat crime in the suburbs and against religious parallel societies, for stricter punishments and more powers for teachers in schools; in terms of economic policy, the party is committed to a liberal order that backs the welfare state and the European Union. In recent years, the Liberals have moved away from the political center toward a more neoliberal orientation.

Miljöpartiet is the Green Party of Sweden, which like many of its European sister parties was founded in the early 1980s, specifically in 1981. In the Green Party, various movements found themselves in one political organization, such as the anti-nuclear movement or the alternative movement, which fought for a progressive and open social policy. True to its name, Miljöpartiet is primarily at home in environmental policy and has a strong focus on the fight against climate change and an attitude of solidarity toward future generations, but also represents left-wing and liberal causes such as feminism, the fight against violence against women, and for equal rights and an open and tolerant society. Between 2014 and 2021, the Swedish Greens were part of the government, but left at their own request and in response to successful opposition to their budget proposal by, among others, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna).

Moderaterna is a party from the bourgeois-conservative spectrum that takes conservative positions on issues such as family policy, but a liberal view on economic policy. Founded in 1904 as an alternative to Socialdemokraterna and liberal movements, the party moved closer to the political center from the right in the mid-1950s and today describes itself as a party of freedom, individualism and entrepreneurship. It positions itself as an advocate of a defensible Sweden with a strong police force, promotes a restrictive migration policy and encourages entrepreneurship. With Carl Bildt and Fredrik Reinfeldt, the party provided the Swedish prime minister between 1991 and 1994 and between 2006 and 2016 and dominates the bourgeois bloc in Sweden, which, however, lost power in the last three parliamentary elections.

Socialdemokraterna is the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Sweden and with its foundation in 1889 it is the oldest party in the country. It emerged from various groups such as the labor movement, dedicated to the struggle against the Swedish class society of the time, for universal suffrage and better living conditions for the poorer members of society. It claims to have played a major role in shaping Sweden's path to an affluent society with achievements such as parental leave, pensions and scholarships, and to have helped found the welfare state. The party provides the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, and has been the strongest party in Swedish parliamentary elections for more than 100 years, even though it most recently recorded the worst result in its history in 2018.

Sverigedemokraterna ("Sweden Democrats") is a comparatively young party from the right-wing populist spectrum, founded in 1988, whose roots are said to lie in far-right movements. The party first made it into parliament in 2010, but other parties refused to cooperate with it on the grounds of the party's xenophobic positions - a position that has softened as the Sweden Democrats have seen success in elections and increased their share of the electorate. The party advocates tougher refugee policies and describes itself as socially liberal, but it is often cited in foreign media as evidence of widespread right-wing nationalist tendencies in Swedish society. The party officially fights for the preservation of Swedish culture, for the preservation of traditions and for the heteronormative nuclear family, and for a strict fight against crime.

Vänsterpartiet is a party founded in 1917, whose name can be translated as "Left Party" and which takes socialist positions. The party had appeared as the Communist Left Party until 1967, when it officially backed parliamentary democracy as a form of government and changed its name. The party describes its motivation as the need for politics in Sweden to regain control over people's wealth "after long years of free-market solutions and privatization" and to improve the lives of ordinary people. The party's central guiding principle is that it is a "socialist and feminist party on an ecological basis" that rejects patriarchy and class society and, by 2019, Sweden's membership in the European Union - a position, however, that the party deleted from its party manifesto this year at its delegate meeting.