Håkan Juholt

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Håkan Juholt
Håkan Juholt in March 2011
Leader of the Opposition
In office
25 March 2011 – 21 January 2012
(302 days)
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by Mona Sahlin
Succeeded by Gustav Fridolin
and Åsa Romson
Chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Worker's Party
In office
25 March 2011 – 21 January 2012
Party secretary Carin Jämtin
Preceded by Mona Sahlin
Succeeded by Stefan Löfven
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 (1962-09-16) 16 September 1962
Oskarshamn, Kalmar County, Sweden
Political party Social Democrats
Alma mater Södertornskolan
Profession Journalist
Photographer

Håkan Juholt (born 16 September 1962) is a Swedish politician who was Leader of the Opposition and the Chairman of the Social Democratic Worker's Party from 2011 to 2012.[1][2] He has been a member of the Swedish parliament since 1994,[3] representing Kalmar län.

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).[4] After finishing gymnasium, he was hired in 1980 as a photographer and journalist for the Social Democratic Kalmar newspaper Östra Småland (Östran),[5] where he is still formally employed but on leave since elected to parliament in 1994. In the early 1980s, he reported for the newspaper from the Solidarity movement in Poland.

Political career

Juholt in March 2011, when he was elected as the new party chairman.

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 Docial 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.

Party chairman

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.[9]

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.[9] Juholt's new leadership was elected during the Social Democratic Congress on 25 March 2011.[10]

Political affair and resignation

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 Democratics in 2011, requested 160 266 SEK too much in allowance for the residence he shares with his partner.[11][12] As a result of the claim, he immediately paid back 160 266 SEK and stated that he wasn't aware of any rules.[13] Later on, the state's attorney in Sweden concluded that no such rules existed at the time.[14]

Even though the rules didn't exist, the political crisis continued for Håkan Juholt.[15] The media coverage of Håkan Juholt had escalated and led to a downturn in the political opinion.[16] At the same time, there were debates and discussions on both television and newspapers about what were the correct facts and the responsibility Aftonbladet had for claiming that Håkan Juholt had requsted too much in allowance.[17][18]

Seven Social Democratic politicians expressed their opinion that Juholt should resign as head of the Workers' Party at that time, despite having held that position for just half a year.[19] However, Juholt stated his intent to not resign. There has been some speculation in the aftermath that the whole affair was the result of internal conflicts in the Social Democrats, since there was a strong faction that wanted to get rid of Juholt.[20]

On 14 October 2011, the Social Democrats' highest committee voted to support Juholt as head of the Social Democrats. The reason given was that the rules concerning the allowances were too unclear.[21]

At the "Folk och försvar" congress in January 2012, Juholt held a speech containing a much publicised and obviously erroneous statement, claiming that the Government had decided on the reform of the armed forces with the parliamentary support of the Sweden Democrats party at a time when this party was not even represented in parliament.

On 21 January 2012, Juholt effectively announced his resignation as head of the Social Democratics at a news conference in Oskarshamn. He was replaced a few days later by Stefan Löfven.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Håkan Juholt.
  1. ↑ Sundell, Camilla; Munck, Anders; Svensson, Olof (21 January 2012). "Juholt avgår". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 January 2012. 
  2. ↑ "Håkan Juholt ny partiordförande" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Håkan Juholt (S)" (in Swedish). Sveriges Riksdag. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
  4. ↑ Kratz, Anita (23 March 2011). "Håkan Juholt: "Har förberett mig i veckor"". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 March 2011. 
  5. ↑ "Östran/Nyheterna" (in Swedish). Tidningsstatistik AB. 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-05. 
  6. ↑ "Juholt blir tf partisekreterare". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 3 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008. 
  7. ↑ "The Election Committee proposes Håkan Juholt as Party Leader and Carin Jämtin as Secretary General". Swedish Social Democratic Party. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011. 
  8. ↑ "Det var ingen rörelseriktning i valet 2010, det var som en popcorngryta där det ena efter det andra poppade upp", he said in a book by Ingemar E.L. Göransson, Arbetarrörelsens kris – mellan reformism och marknadsliberalism (2011).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Håkan Juholt ska leda S ur krisen". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 10 March 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011. 
  10. ↑ "Extrakongress 2011" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011. 
  11. ↑ Thulin, Staffan (7 October 2011). "Juholt har fått 160 000 kronor för mycket". Riksdag & Departement. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  12. ↑ TT (7 October 2011). "Juholt informerades redan i somras". Stockholm: Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  13. ↑ "Juholt: Jag har inte haft koll på reglerna" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  14. ↑ "Juholtärendet: förundersökning om bedrägeri läggs ned". Aklagare.se (in Swedish). 14 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013. 
  15. ↑ "Advokaten: Inga skrivna regler finns". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 12 October 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012. 
  16. ↑ "Historiskt ras för S i veckan" (in Swedish). SVD.se. 16 oktober 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013. 
  17. ↑ "Lena Mellin / Aftonbladet kan inte erkänna att dom gjort fel – Kvällsöppet" (in Swedish). 19 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013. 
  18. ↑ "Juholt har inte gjort något fel" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet.se. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013. 
  19. ↑ Vidlund, Susanna (14 October 2011). "Allt fler kräver Juholts avgång" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  20. ↑ Oscarsson, Tord (14 October 2011). "Hysteriskt maniskt drev utan like för att knäcka Håkan Juholt ser ut att misslyckas" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. Retrieved 21 January 2012. 
  21. ↑ Olofsson, Hans L. (14 October 2011). "Förundersökningen mot Juholt läggs ner" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 


Political offices
Preceded by
Mona Sahlin		 Leader of the Opposition
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
Gustav Fridolin
Party political offices
Preceded by
Mona Sahlin		 Chair of the Social Democratic Worker's Party
2011–2011 		Succeeded by
Stefan Löfven


Authority control
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