Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
| Deputy to the Prime Minister of Sweden
Statsministerns ställföreträdare | |
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Lesser coat of arms of Sweden | |
| Appointer | The Prime Minister |
| Term length |
No fixed term, Serves at the pleasure of the Prime Minister |
| Inaugural holder | Gunnar Sträng |
| Formation | January 1, 1975 |
| Website | www.sweden.gov.se |
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The Swedish constitution allows the Prime Minister to appoint one of the Ministers in the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister (statsministers ställföreträdare, sometimes unofficially known as vice statsminister), 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 (these are marked in italic in the table below).
A Deputy Prime Minister can only serve as Prime Minister in a temporary function, as the resignation of a Prime Minister automatically includes the entire cabinet, and the Instrument of Government of Sweden requires the Speaker of the Riksdag to dismiss the cabinet in the case of the death of the Prime Minister.
History
Historically, under the 1809 Instrument of Government the Minister for Foreign Affairs (the "second excellency" and to date the only formal "minister" save for the Prime Minister, the other cabinet members' formal title being Councillor of State for... etc) was to act as acting Prime Minister should he be able not to perform his duties. With the enactment of the 1974 Instrument of Government and the inauguration of Thorbjörn Fälldin's three-party cabinet in 1976, Per Ahlmark was formally sworn in as the first to hold the office. In 1986 Deputy Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson became acting Prime Minister for the transitional cabinet from March 1 to March 12, upon the assassination of Olof Palme. Carlsson was subsequently tasked with forming a new cabinet, approved by the Riksdag on March 12, effectively reappointing most cabinet members in their previous offices.
The role and position of a Deputy Prime Minister may vary. In the four last coalition governments, Fälldin III, Bildt and Reinfeldt I and II, the Deputy Prime Minister was the head of the second-largest coalition partner (Liberals in Fälldin III, Bildt and Reinfeldt II, Centre in Reinfeldt I). In the governments Fälldin I and II, however, the Deputy Prime Ministership belonged to the Liberal Party despite the fact that it was the smallest of the three members. The reason for this might be ascribed to an unwillingness on behalf of the Centre and Liberals to give this position to the Moderates, due to ideological differences. In all of these governments, however, the Deputy Prime Minister also had a regular Cabinet portfolio.
The situation is different in the one-party governments that have existed since the position of Deputy Prime Minister was introduced in 1976, namely the Liberal Ullsten government and the Social Democratic governments Palme II, Carlsson I-III and Persson. While Mona Sahlin might well have been described as something of a "successor-in-waiting" (even if she ultimately did not succeed Ingvar Carlsson to the Prime Ministership), the other Deputy Prime Ministers have tended to be older and experienced politicians who have often been in charge of coordinating the work of the Government and may also have been in charge of some policy areas of their own which were not substantial enough to warrant a full-time Cabinet position, such as Bo Ringholm, who was Minister of Sport concurrently with being Deputy Prime Minister.
List of officeholders
- Color key
Independent Social Democratic Moderate Centre Left Liberal People's Christian Democrats Green Sweden Democrats
| № | Deputy Prime Minister | Position | Took office | Left office | Duration | Party | Prime Minister | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Per Ahlmark (born 1939) | Minister for Employment | October 8, 1976 | March 7, 1978 | 515 | Liberal People's | Thorbjörn Fälldin (C) | |
| 2 | Ola Ullsten (born 1931) | Minister for International Development Cooperation | March 7, 1978 | October 18, 1978 | 225 | Liberal People's | Thorbjörn Fälldin (C) | |
| – | Sven Romanus (Acting) (1906–2005) | Minister for Justice | October 18, 1978 | October 12, 1979 | 359 | Independent | Ola Ullsten (FP) | |
| – | Ingemar Mundebo (Acting) (born 1930) | Minister for Justice | October 12, 1979 | August 1, 1980 | 294 | Liberal People's | Thorbjörn Fälldin (C) | |
| (2) | Ola Ullsten (born 1931) | Minister for Foreign Affairs | August 1, 1980 | October 8, 1982 | 798 | Liberal People's | Thorbjörn Fälldin (C) | |
| 3 | Ingvar Carlsson (born 1934) | Minister for the Environment | October 8, 1982 | February 28, 1986 | 1239 | Social Democratic | Olof Palme (S) | |
| – | Svante Lundkvist (Acting) (1919–1991) | Minister for Agriculture | February 28, 1986 | October 9, 1986 | 223 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) | |
| – | Kjell-Olof Feldt (Acting) (born 1931) | Minister for Finance | October 9, 1986 | February 16, 1990 | 1226 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) | |
| – | Lena Hjelm-Wallén (Acting) (born 1943) | Minister for International Development Cooperation | February 16, 1990 | February 27, 1990 | 11 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) | |
| 4 | Odd Engström (1941–1998) | – | February 27, 1990 | October 4, 1991 | 584 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) | |
| 5 | Bengt Westerberg (born 1943) | Minister for Health and Social Affairs | October 4, 1991 | October 7, 1994 | 1099 | Liberal People's | Carl Bildt (M) | |
| 6 | Mona Sahlin (born 1957) | Minister for Gender Equality | October 7, 1994 | November 16, 1995 | 405 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) | |
| 7 | Lena Hjelm-Wallén (born 1943) | Minister for Foreign Affairs (1994–1998) | November 16, 1995 | October 21, 2002 | 2531 | Social Democratic | Ingvar Carlsson (S) (1995 – 1996) Göran Persson (S) (1996 – 2002) | |
| 8 | Margareta Winberg (born 1943) | Minister for Gender Equality | October 21, 2002 | October 31, 2003 | 375 | Social Democratic | Göran Persson (S) | |
| – | Marita Ulvskog (Acting) (born 1951) | Minister for Culture and Sports | October 31, 2003 | June 1, 2004 | 214 | Social Democratic | Göran Persson (S) | |
| 9 | Lars Engqvist (born 1945) | Minister for Health and Social Affairs | June 1, 2004 | October 1, 2004 | 122 | Social Democratic | Göran Persson (S) | |
| – | Laila Freivalds (Acting) (born 1942) | Minister for Foreign Affairs | October 1, 2004 | November 1, 2004 | 31 | Social Democratic | Göran Persson (S) | |
| 10 | Bosse Ringholm (born 1942) | Minister for European Union Affairs | November 1, 2004 | October 6, 2006 | 704 | Social Democratic | Göran Persson (S) | |
| 11 | Maud Olofsson (born 1955) | Minister for Enterprise and Energy | October 6, 2006 | October 5, 2010 | 1460 | Centre | Fredrik Reinfeldt (M) | |
| 12 | Jan Björklund (born 1962) | Minister for Education | October 5, 2010 | October 3, 2014 | 1459 | Liberal People's | Fredrik Reinfeldt (M) | |
| 13 | Åsa Romson (born 1972) | Minister for the Environment | October 3, 2014 | Incumbent | 189 | Green | Stefan Löfven (S) | |
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