| Håkan Juholt | |
|---|---|
| Håkan Juholt in September 2011 | |
| Chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 25 March 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Mona Sahlin |
| Chairman of the Swedish Defence Committee | |
| In office 12 October 2010 – 7 April 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Anders Karlsson |
| Succeeded by | Peter Hultqvist |
| Member of the Riksdag | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1994 |
|
| Constituency | Kalmar County |
| Member of the Swedish Defence Committee | |
| In office 1994 – 12 October 2010 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 September 1962 Oskarshamn, Kalmar County, Sweden |
| Political party | Social Democrats |
| Profession | Journalist Photographer |
Håkan Juholt, born 16 September 1962, is a Swedish Social Democratic politician and the current head of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party.[1] He has been a member of the Riksdag since 1994,[2] representing Kalmar län, and has also worked as a photographer and journalist.
He is a native of Oskarshamn, where his father worked as a printer and was a union man, a small fishing town of 17,000 on the Baltic Sea and the site of a nuclear power plant. His maternal grandfather was the artist Arvid Källström (1893–1967).[3] After highschool (gymnasium, social linje), he was hired in 1980 as a photographer and journalist for Östra Småland (Östran/Nyheterna), where he is still formally employed but on leave since 1994 when he was elected to parliament. In the early 1980s, he reported from the Solidarity movement in Poland.[4] This local Kalmar newspaper with a circulation of 13,500[5] is one of few still owned by the social democratic party.
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From 1984 to 1990 he was a board member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU). In 1994 he was elected to parliament. In 2004 he was appointed to assistant party secretary. In the spring of 2009 he was temporarily the party secretary after Marita Ulvskog resigned and before Ibrahim Baylan took over. Until he became party leader, he was the regional chairman of the social democrats of Kalmar län. He's chairman of the board for Oskarshamn's harbour, John Lindgren's peace fund, Tage Erlander's memorial fund and of the ownership board for the Östra Småland newspaper.[6]
He is the party's spokesperson on defence policy. From 1995 he was a member of the joint parliament-government committee on defence policy (försvarsberedningen), and its chairman in 2000-2007.[7] From 1996 to 2011, he was a member of the parliamentary committee on defence issues (försvarsutskottet), and served as its chairman 2010-2011. He was a delegate to the parliamentarian summits of NATO in 1995 and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1996.
After the Swedish parliamentary election in 2010, where the social democrats lost badly, Håkan Juholt criticized the party's campaign. He described it as a popcorn pan, going in all directions.[8] When Jytte Guteland, chairman of the party's youth league (SSU), called for the whole board to offer their resignation, he was the first to support her.[4]
On 10 March 2011, he was proposed by the election committee led by Berit Andnor to succeed Mona Sahlin as the chairman of the party, with Carin Jämtin as the party secretary.[4] The new leadership was elected during the Social Democratic Congress the 25 of March.[9]
Håkan Juholt has been involved in a political affair. It was observed in October 2011, when the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an article claiming that Juholt had, from 2007 until his time as head of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party in 2011, requested 160,266 SEK too much in allowance for the residence he shares with his 'sambo'.[10][11] As a result of the claim, he immediately paid back all the 160,266 SEK and stated that we wasn't aware of the rules.[12]
During the crisis, more facts became known. He received further allowance ranging between 5,000–6,000 SEK for a privately owned car and a rented car.[13] It also became known that the there were really no rules as Aftonbladet had stated, but merely non-written guidelines followed by some, but not all, members of parliament.[14] Seven Social Democratic politicians expressed their opinion that Juholt should resign as head of the Workers' Party, despite holding that position for just half a year.[15] Juholt stated his intent to not resign. There has been some speculation that the whole affair was a result of internal conflicts in the Social Democratic Party, since there is a strong faction that wants to get rid of Juholt.[16]
On 14 October 2011, the Workers' Party's highest committee voted to support Juholt as head of the Workers' Party. The reason given was that the rules concerning the allowances were too unclear.[17]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mona Sahlin |
Chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party 2011 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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