Swedish governmental line of succession

The Swedish constitution of 1974 allows the Prime Minister of Sweden to appoint one of the Ministers in the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister (biträdande statsminister, also unofficially known as vice statsminister, "Vice Prime Minister"), in case the Prime Minister for some reason is prevented from performing his or her duties. However, if a Deputy Prime Minister has not been appointed, the Minister in the cabinet who has served the longest time (and if there are several with equal experience the one who is oldest) takes over as head of government. Note that the person acting as Prime Minister does not do so on a permanent basis: if a Prime Minister dies, resigns or loses a vote of confidence in the Riksdag, the Speaker of the Riksdag will then confer with the parties of the Riksdag and propose a new Prime Minister, who must be tolerated by a majority of the Riksdag. If the Prime Minister has resigned or lost a vote of confidence, he or she will remain the head of a government ad interim until the new Prime Minister assumes his or her office. The only case where the governmental line of succession becomes relevant is when the Prime Minister dies (upon which the person next in the line of succession serves as the head of a government ad interim) or when the Prime Minister is on leave or for any other reason incapable of serving, but still remains in office. This might be compared to the Presidential line of succession in the United States, where the person next in line assumes the Presidency throughout the remainder of the term if the President dies, resigns or is impeached.

Present succession

Name Party Current title Served since Born
Incumbent Fredrik Reinfeldt Moderate Party Prime Minister 2006 1965
1 Maud Olofsson Centre Party Deputy Prime Minister 2006 1955
2 Mats Odell Christian Democrats Minister for Local Government Finances and Financial Market Issues 1991-94, 2006 1947
3 Carl Bildt Moderate Party Minister for Foreign Affairs 1991-94, 2006 1949
4 Cristina Husmark Pehrsson Moderate Party Minister for Social Security 2006 1947
5 Maria Larsson Christian Democrats Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health 2006 1956
6 Beatrice Ask Moderate Party Minister for Justice 2006 1956
7 Eskil Erlandsson Centre Party Minister for Agriculture 2006 1957
8 Åsa Torstensson Centre Party Minister for Infrastructure 2006 1958
9 Andreas Carlgren Centre Party Minister for the Environment 2006 1958
10 Göran Hägglund Christian Democrats Minister for Social Affairs 2006 1959
11 Jan Björklund Liberal People's Party Minister for Education 2006 1962
12 Gunilla Carlsson Moderate Party Minister for Development Cooperation 2006 1963
13 Anders Borg Moderate Party Minister for Finance 2006 1968
14 Cecilia Malmström Liberal People's Party Minister for EU Affairs 2006 1968
15 Nyamko Sabuni Liberal People's Party Minister for Integration and Gender Equality 2006 1969
16 Tobias Billström Moderate Party Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy 2006 1973
17 Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth Moderate Party Minister for Culture 2006 1955
18 Sten Tolgfors Moderate Party Minister for Defence 2006 1966
19 Ewa Björling Moderate Party Minister for Foreign Trade 2007 1961
20 Tobias Krantz Liberal People's Party Minister for Higher Education and Research 2009 1971