Christian Democrats (Sweden)

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Kristdemokraterna
Leader	Göran Hägglund
Founded	1964
Headquarters	Munkbron 1, Stockholm
Political ideology	Christian Democracy
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	EPP-ED
Colour(s)	Blue, white
Website	www.kristdemokraterna.se
See also the politics of Sweden series

The Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on their own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf Svensson, who had been the party's leader since 1973. The three most important issues for the party are:

• Improving the care for elderly
• Freedom of choice for families with children in selecting their childcare
• Decreasing regulations on companies, lowering taxes to promote growth and combat unemployment

Contents 1 History 1.1 Reasons for founding the party 1.2 The founding 1.3 The early start 1.4 The way into the riksdag 1.5 The real breakthrough 2 Voter base 3 Christian Democratic Politicians 3.1 Party chairman 3.2 Vice chairman 3.3 Second vice chairman 3.4 Party secretary 3.5 Group leader in the riksdag 3.6 Other famous Christian democrats 4 Affiliated organisations 5 Election results 6 Literature 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

Part of the Politics series on Christian Democracy

Parties

Christian Democratic parties Christian Democrat International European People's Party European Democratic Party Euro Christian Political Movement Christian Dem Org of America

Ideas

Social conservatism Social market economy Human dignity · Personalism Freedom · Justice · Solidarity Sphere sovereignty · Subsidiarity Communitarianism · Federalism Stewardship · Sustainability Catholic social teaching Neo-Calvinism · Neo-Thomism

Important Documents

Rerum Novarum (1891) Stone Lectures (Princeton 1898) Graves de Communi Re (1901) Quadragesimo Anno (1931) Laborem Exercens (1981) Sollicitudi Rei Socialis (1987) Centesimus Annus (1991)

Important Figures

Thomas Aquinas · John Calvin Pope Leo XIII · Abraham Kuyper Maritain · Adenauer · De Gasperi Pope Pius XI · Schuman Pope John Paul II · Kohl

Politics Portal · edit

[edit] Reasons for founding the party

The party had its roots in a movement against the Swedish government's decision in 1963 to remove religious education from the elementary school syllabus. The organisation called "Christian Social Responsibility" that would later become the Christian Democratic Unity organised several marches against the decision, one of which became one of the largest in Swedish modern history. Despite the public outcry and over 2.1 million protest signatures, the decision went through. The group which had worked in the campaign felt it was a sign that Swedish politics needed a Christian Democratic Party.

It should be noted the political and social origins of the Swedish Christian Democracy clearly differs from those of the European continental Christian Democratic parties (like in Italy or West Germany). In those countries, Christian Democracy represented the mainstream of the social-conservative political forces and was closely tied to majoritarian religious practice. In, Sweden Christian Democracy surged as minority grouping amongst the center-right forces and was tied to religious minority tendencies in society (the Free Churches).

[edit] The founding

In the beginning 1964 Lewi Pethrus, founder of the Swedish Pentecostal movement and chief editor of the Swedish newspaper Dagen, discussed the idea of a Swedish Christian democratic party on the editorial pages of Dagen. He stated that many people had contacted him about the idea, and that the current Swedish political climate was dominated by atheist economic materialism.

Principal Algot Terel hosted a conference in February 7 the same year. The topic of the conference was "Christianity and Politics", and during the conference the idea of starting a Christian Democratic Party was discussed. A committee consisting of Lewi Pethrus and 8 other Free Church leaders was formed.

A large and widespread debate followed this decision to create a commitée. Dagen published an interview with the leader of the Norwegian Christian Democratic Party Kjell Bondevik and there were talks about creating a Christian Democratic Party in Finland as well.

On March 20, 1964 the party was founded as the Christian Democratic Unity (Kristen Demokratisk Samling). At first it was only an organisation, but at a board meeting later that year it was decided the organisation would be revamped into a party and that it would run for the national elections in Sweden. The first roughly 100 members elected Birger Ekstedt to the post of party chairman and Lewi Pethrus to the post of vice chairman.

Then began the intensive work of spreading the party all over the nation and preparing the necessary infrastructure in preparation for the elections. The party grew rapidly, by the end of the year it had 14 500 members.

[edit] The early start

The party was sometimes called the "Air and Water" party at a start because of the party's strong emphasis on environmental politics. At that time the Green Party of Sweden did not exist and thus the Christian Democratic Unity had a unique position with its environmentally friendly politics. In the Swedish national elections in 1964 the party gained 1,8%, not enough to get any seats in the riksdag, but the party already gained influence on the municipal level. In the municipal elections of 1966, the party gained 354 seats.

At this time the established major parties of Sweden began discussing new ways of prohibiting minor parties in Sweden from getting into the riksdag. In 1971 the riksdag was reformed, and with it came the D'Hondt method of voting. The threshold was set to 4%, which meant that the political breakthrough was far away for the KDS.

In 1972, the 51 year old Birger Ekstedt died only a few days after having been reelected as the party chairman. An emergency congress was called, and the relatively unknown chairman of the youth-wing of the party was elected chairman. His name was Alf Svensson, and he later became one of the most important figures in modern Swedish politics. In the national elections in 1973 the party gained the same result as the two preceding elections, 1,8%.

Before the national elections in 1976 there was a strong call for a change to a right-wing government in Sweden. The organisation "Vote right-wing" was formed to promote the change to a right-wing government. The KDS however announced they didn't want to be placed on the traditional right-wing/left-wing scale, a measurement system they felt was outdated. Therefore, the Vote right-wing organisation started a campaign of negative campaigning against the KDS with the slogan "Don't vote for KDS, don't throw away your vote" as the KDS party had not climbed the 4% threshold the last elections. The effects of a large campaign on a small and relatively new party like the KDS was disastrous, and the party only gained 1.4% of the votes in the election.

In the beginning of the 1980's, the party revamped their entire political manifesto. The party abandoned its conservative stance on abortion and instead assumed a moderate pro-choice stance and stated they wanted to work to lower the total amount of abortions in Sweden through preventive measures instead. In the 1980 Nuclear power referenda they party supported the "no" campaign, which meant a no to any further construction of new nuclear power-plants in Sweden and the phase-out of all nuclear power plants in Sweden within 10 years complete with increased investments in alternative energy.

In 1982 the Christian Democratic Women's league was founded and the party gained 1.9% of the votes, for the first getting more than 100 000 votes.

[edit] The way into the riksdag

As early as 1978 the KDS discussed the idea of electoral cooperation with the Centre Party. Similar ideas were discussed before the 1982 elections, but were never put into action. One of the proponents of such a collaboration was the then secretary of information Mats Odell. The party now officially took a stance against a socialist government, which effectively put them together with the right-wing block.

The negotiations were bumpy but finally in 1984 the Centre Party and KDS agreed to run under a joint banner in next years elections under the name "The Centre".

The deal, which was heavily criticised by the Swedish Social Democratic Party, meant that each party had their own voting ticket but Centre Party should nominate a Christian Democratic candidate on at least 5 of the regional candidacy lists. There was no doubt that the Centre Party ticket would win over the KDS ticket almost everywhere, but this way there would be at least 5 Christian democrats in the riksdag. The Centre Party did not live up to the promise however, and only in the municipality of Kalmar did they put a Christian Democrat on the list. This resulted in great tensions within the party and one of the party icons, the environmental proponent Björn Gillberg left the party. Alf Svensson however, managed to get into the riksdag through the KDS party ticket in Jönköping.

[edit] The real breakthrough

In 1987 the party manifesto was revamped once again (although not as heavily as the last time) and the party changed its name to Christian Democratic Social Party (Kristdemokratiska Samhällspartiet). In the 1988 national elections the party grew significantly and gained 2.8% of the votes. But the Centre Party did not want any further electoral cooperation and the KDS MP had to leave the riksdag. Something had happened however. The party was now recognised as one of the major parties in Sweden, and Alf Svensson had become famous. According to many polls, he was in fact the most popular politician in the entire nation.

Several famous people joined the party and in the right-wing breakthrough national elections of 1991 the party grew explosively yet again and gained over 7% of the votes. The right-wing bloc gained a majority and the KDS formed government with the right-wing bloc. Several Christian Democrats got positions within the new government; Alf Svensson as the minister of foreign aid (and vice foreign minister), Inger Davidson as minister of civilian infrastructure and Mats Odell as minister of communications.

After the right-wing bloc lost the 1994 elections, the KDS managed to stay in the riksdag and had assumed a permanent position within Swedish national politics. In 1996 the party changed its name to the current form, Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna). The party believed this would help deter the belief that it was a religious party. In 1998 the party had its best elections ever, gaining over 11% of the votes, it established itself as the 4th largest party in Sweden, becoming larger than their former electoral partner the Centre Party. In the 2002 national elections the party got less votes but still held on to its position as the 4th largest party.

In 2004, the famous Alf Svensson stepped down in favor of his long designated successor Göran Hägglund.

At the end of 2005, the party had 24 202 confirmed members making it the 4th largest party in size as well. Its one of the few parties in Sweden not continuously losing a lot of members. The Christian Democrats are represented in almost every municipality and region in Sweden.

[edit] Voter base

Ideologically it is a centre-right Christian Democrat party, having a big part of their voter base among those who belong to evangelical denominations, known in Sweden as free churches - Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists, etc. These churches have many followers in Småland, which is the region where the party is strongest. Other important voter groups are senior citizens and young families. Party's political message has been called 'neo-liberalism with a human face.'[1]

[edit] Christian Democratic Politicians

[edit] Party chairman

1964-1972	Birger Ekstedt
1973-2004	Alf Svensson
2004-	Göran Hägglund

[edit] Vice chairman

This list is not yet complete.

1964-?	Lewi Pethrus
1991-2003	Inger Davidson
2003-	Maria Larsson

[edit] Second vice chairman

This list is not yet complete.

1964-?	Sven Enlund
1979-?	Maj-Lis Palo
1993-2003	Anders Andersson
2003-2004	Göran Hägglund
2004-	Mats Odell (Minister of Communications 1991-1994)

[edit] Party secretary

1964-1972	Bertil Carlsson
1972-1978	Stig Nyman
1978-1985	Per Egon Johansson
1985-1989	Dan Ericsson
1989-1991	Inger Davidson (Minister of civil infrastructure 1991-1994)
1991-1993	Lars Lindén (MP 2002-)
1994-2002	Sven Gunnar Persson (MP 2002-)
2002-	Urban Svensson

[edit] Group leader in the riksdag

1991-2002	Göran Hägglund
2002-	Stefan Attefall

[edit] Other famous Christian democrats

• Peter Althin, MP and judicial spokesman
• Jerzy Einhorn, cancer researcher and MP 1991-1994
• Gert Fylking
• Bror Stefenson, Chairman of the Christian Democratic Senior League
• Anders Wijkman, MEP

[edit] Affiliated organisations

• Christian Democratic Youth League
• Christian Democratic Student League
• Christian Democratic Senior League
• Christian Democratic Women's league
• The foundation Civitas
• Study organisation Framtidsbildarna

[edit] Election results

Year	1964	1966	1968	1970	1973	1976	1979	1982	1985	1988	1991	1994	1998	2002	2006
National elections	1,8%	*	1,5%	1,80%	1,75%	1,36%	1,39%	1,87%	2,6%**	2,94%	7,14%	4,1%	11,77%	9,15%	6,6%
Regional Elections	*	1,8%	*	1,9%	2,1%	1,9%	2,0%	2,4%	2,0%	3,1%	7,0%	3,7%	10,0%	8,2%
Municipal Elections	*	*	*	1,8%	2,1%	2,0%	2,1%	2,4%	2,0%	2,8%	5,8%	3,2%	8,0%	7,1%

* - This type of election did not occur this year because of the electoral system.

** - The Christian Democrats stood on a joint list with the Centre Party, and thus no separate election results. The number supplied is the number of tickets with Christian Democratic candidates that were voted with under the common name.

[edit] Literature

• Niels Arbøl, Kristdemokraterna en världsrörelse (Samhällsgemenskap, 1986) ISBN 91-85036-22-6
• Cecilia Hjort Attefall, Partiet som lyfte: 40 år med svensk kristdemokrati: 1964-2004 (Samhällsgemenskap, 2004) ISBN 91-85036-52-8
• Birger Ekstedt, KDS - en politisk nödvändighet (Samhällsgemenskap, 1970)
• Göran V. Johansson, Kristen Demokrati På Svenska (Liber, 1985) ISBN 91-40-05103-X
• Erik Lindfeldt, Moralpartiet. En bok om KdS (Carlssons, 1991) ISBN 91-7798-433-1
• Bernt Olsson, Upprinnelsen - Om Kristdemokraternas första tid i Sverige (Samhällsgemenskap, 2004) ISBN 91-85036-56-0
• Allan Sandström, KDS - Partiet bakom fromhetsvallen (LT, 1979) ISBN 91-36-01329-3
• Alf Svensson, I Tiden, från motvind till uppvindar (Samhällsgemenskap, 1984) ISBN 91-85036-10-2
• Kristdemokratisk Debatt (paper published by the party between 1992-2003) ISSN 1103-1522

[edit] See also

• Alliance for Sweden
• Government of Sweden
• Parliament of Sweden
• Elections in Sweden
• European Peoples Party/European Democrats

Alliance for Sweden
Moderate Party	Liberal People's Party	Christian Democrats	Centre Party

[edit] References

• United States Department of State - Sweden

[edit] External links

• Kristdemokraterna - Official site (Swedish)
• The Swedish Parliament: The Christian Democrats
• Christian Democratic Womens League (Swedish)
• Christian Democratic Seniour League (Swedish)
• Christian Democratic Youth League (Swedish)
• Christian Democratic Student League (Swedish)
• CIVITAS - Christian Democratic Foundation (Swedish)
• The Christian Democrat - Christian Democratic newspaper on the net (Swedish)
• EPP - Christian Democratic group in the European Parliament (Swedish)
• Critical site with anti-gay quotes made by Christian democrats (Swedish)

Political parties in Sweden
Represented in the Riksdag (349)	Social Democrats (130) | Moderate Party (97) | Centre Party (29) | Liberal People's Party (28) | Christian Democrats (24) | Left Party (22) | Green Party (19)
Represented in the European Parliament (19 out of 732)	Social Democrats (5) | Moderate Party (4) | Christian Democrats (2)* | June List (2)* | Left Party (2) | Centre Party (1) | Feminist Initiative (1)** | Green Party (1) | Liberal People's Party (1)** *Three MEPs were elected for the June List, but one defected to Christian Democrats. **Two MEPs were elected for the Liberal People's Party, but one defected to Feminist Initiative.
Minor parties:	Sweden Democrats (2.93%) | Pirate Party (0.63%) | Senior Citizen Interest Party (0.52%) | Health Care Party (0.21%)