| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
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| 572.1 | Social Democrats rejoice | TLE::SAVAGE | | Mon Sep 19 1994 14:44 | 57 |
| STOCKHOLM (Reuter) - Sweden's Social Democrats celebrated
their return to power with a huge victory party early Monday
with disco dancing, stand-up comedians and karaoke.
Sweden's oldest party packed 1,500 politicians, supporters
and fellow Social Democrats from abroad into a giant conference
centre to watch the election results on television.
The temperature started to rise when the first official
results began streaming in showing the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) sweeping around 45 percent of votes.
But the traditionally dominant party still has to find a
partner in parliament to gain a majority. And many of its
260,000 members feel it lacks the charismatic leaders of the
past.
Grey-haired party chairman Ingvar Carlsson did not reach the
celebrations until late in the evening after he had appeared on
television and held news conferences.
``Ingvar Carlsson is nice, but unfortunately he does not
have a personality that can compete with Olof Palme,'' said
Malin Romlin, 21, sitting by a laden smorgasbord buffet of
traditional meatballs, salmon and pickled herring.
Carlsson was thrust into the position of party leader after
former prime minister Olof Palme was gunned down in a Stockholm
street in 1986 by a still-unknown assassin.
The shy, quiet Carlsson, whose roots are in the working
class, was little known at the time and was the antithesis of
the outspoken, quick-witted Palme.
``Ingvar Carlsson was very drained for a time. In the end he
lit up a bit, but it's not still quite there,'' said a
67-year-old woman, a lifelong SDP voter.
Carlsson, now bringing the party back to dominance after
three years in opposition to Prime Minister Carl Bildt's centre-
right coalition, has started to revel in the spotlight.
``Tomorrow Carl Bildt is about to do the best thing he's
ever done -- he will resign,'' Carlsson told his followers later
after they cheered him onto the stage many hours after polls
closed.
``This is one of the biggest victories in our party's
history,'' he said, to massive applause and chants of ``Ingvar
Carlsson.''
Carlsson and party secretary Mona Sahlin threw red roses to
the crowd who linked hands and sang the national anthemn and
party songs.
The SDP sees itself as Sweden's rightful party of government
and is proud of its pioneering creation of one of the world's
most comprehensive welfare systems.
It ruled either as a single party or as a dominant coalition
partner for all but six years between 1932 and 1991.
Supporters, many of them young and casually dressed, were
however divided over who the SDP should work with now.
Carlsson stayed silent on that point, but has said he would
prefer to work with the centrist Liberal or Centre parties.
The election's winners, however, were small leftist parties.
``I hope they will work with the Left or Green party. I
don't want them to go closer to the middle,'' Romlin said.
Stockholm SDP politician Mats Hult, however, said, ``I think
Carlsson will go to the middle. Experience with the Left and
Green parties has been quite negative.''
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| 572.2 | | SWECSC::AHLGREN | Member of the Piraya Club | Tue Sep 20 1994 03:48 | 11 |
| Yesterday the government led by Carl Bildt resigned. The speaker of the
parliament has asked Ingvar Carlsson to form a new government with the
broadest possible base.
Bengt Westerberg, leader of the liberal party, will today talk with his
party's leadership team to decide if he will resign or not after the
third election in a row where Folkpartiet lost votes. Westerberg is
considered the prime coalition partner if Carlsson is not going to form
a minority government...
Paul.
|
| 572.3 | Associated Press & Reuters reports | TLE::SAVAGE | | Tue Sep 20 1994 11:58 | 74 |
| STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Conservative Prime Minister Carl
Bildt resigned Monday, a day after voters brought back the Social
Democrats to guide the country out of its economic crisis.
After a campaign dominated by economic issues, the Social
Democrats captured 45.6 percent of the vote Sunday, according to
late returns.
That's enough to return Ingvar Carlsson to the prime minister's
post three years after being ousted by a conservative coalition.
But it won't give his party an outright majority in the 349-seat
Parliament.
The Social Democrats have held power for most the past 60
years. Their free spending built up Sweden's welfare state after World
War II. But they campaigned like fiscal conservatives, promising fiscal
control and limited cuts in public spending.
Sweden has a $170 billion national debt, a staggering sum for a
country of only 8.5 million people. Unemployment has reached 14
percent, and there are signs inflation is heating up.
``The most important problems for us are fighting the economic
crisis, stabilizing the national debt and bringing down the jobless
rate,'' Carlsson said.
Reforms will be tough, however, without a majority. Carlsson
said there are only ``slim chances'' his Social Democrats will link
up with another party to strengthen its position in Parliament.
Shares on the Stockholm stock exchange opened 1 percent below
Friday's levels Monday. The Swedish krona dipped slightly against
the German mark, but recovered in later trading.
Chief executives of Sweden's four major exporters -- carmaker
Volvo, telecommunications giant Ericsson, paper maker Stora and the
Swedish unit of heavy equipment manufacturer Asea Brown Boveri --
have warned of cutbacks in domestic investment if the new
government creates an anti-business climate.
Prior to the vote, opinion polls showed Bildt's conservative
party, the Moderates, trailing badly. The Moderates took 22.1
percent of the vote to remain the second biggest party in
Parliament.
Bildt handed in his letter of resignation to the speaker of
parliament Monday morning. He will remain at the head of a
caretaker government until Carlsson is sworn in, likely in about
two weeks.
Final results weren't expected until Wednesday.
Women were the clearest winners, taking more than 40 percent of
the Parliament seats.
In two months, Swedes will vote on whether to join the European
Union, a big step for a nation that has prided itself on neutrality
and aloofness from Europe's ills.
The dominant parties back membership, but most voters are
divided or undecided, according to most opinion polls.
The outcome of Sweden's referendum is expected to influence the
EU ballot also being held in neighboring Norway. Finland votes on
EU membership in October.
========================================================================
STOCKHOLM, Sept 19 (Reuter) - Swedish Social Democratic
Party leader Ingvar Carlsson said on Monday he will form a new
government after winning a general election on Sunday as voters
swung left.
Defeated Prime Minister Carl Bildt earlier handed in the
resignation of his centre-right coalition. Carlsson, who failed
to get an overall majority, said he would discuss details of a
new administration with the Speaker of Sweden's parliament later
on Monday.
Carlsson, speaking after winning 162 of 349 seats in
parliament in a general election on Sunday. said he would seek
to form an ``effective government of cooperation'', a clear
indication he will seek to rule with a minority government.
He said he was confident of obtaining support from other
parties in parliament for legislation, adding he had formed a
team of Social Democratic Party (SDP) personnel to pick a new
cabinet.
Carlsson fell 13 seats of winning an overall majority in
Sunday's election.
He led Sweden from 1986 -- after then-prime minister Olof
Palme was assassinated -- until his government was ousted in
1991 by Bildt's coalition.
|
| 572.4 | Women to take 41% of parliament seats | TLE::SAVAGE | | Wed Sep 21 1994 13:33 | 61 |
| STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- As Sweden's government shakes out
following national elections, the biggest winners are turning out
to be women. With 41 percent of the seats in parliament, they will
hold more political power than in any other Western country.
``It's wonderful,'' Nalin Baksi, a 27-year-old Social Democrat,
said Monday. Following Sunday's elections, she and more than 140
other women -- many very young and taking office for the first time
-- will sit in the 349-seat Parliament.
After a campaign dominated by economic issues, Swedish voters
dumped the conservative government and brought back the Social
Democrats, who won 45.6 percent of the vote. Conservative Prime
Minister Carl Bildt resigned Monday.
The Social Democrats tried to calm jittery financial markets
Monday by emphasizing tight fiscal policies and strong government
to overcome the country's economic crisis.
In Sweden, badly hit by recession and unemployment, women have
suffered most from cutbacks in public sector spending such as
hospitals and child care. The conservative coalition government,
which took power three years ago, cut benefits such as guaranteed
pay for parents staying home with a sick child.
Before the election campaign started, a group of influential
female writers, economists and scientists threatened to form their
own party if the established parties didn't speak up for women's
rights.
The Social Democrats responded by creating ``layered lists'' of
candidates on which every second candidate was a woman. That
practically killed the issue of women's rights in the campaign, and
the Social Democrats won on a platform focused on cutting back the
welfare state.
But whether women inside the mansions of power will speak up
for
women outside remains to be seen, said Olof Ruin, a political
scientist at Stockholm University.
``I've always been skeptical about saying there is any
fundamental difference between men and women in politics,'' Ruin
said. ``But probably so-called soft issues might be a little more
emphasized.''
While 41 percent of Parliament will be women -- the exact
number
of seats is still not determined -- they will hold half the Social
Democrats' seats. Party leader Ingvar Carlsson has said he will
appoint women to half the Cabinet posts.
The outspoken Ms. Baksi, a nurse by profession, is sure the
shift of balance will make a difference for Swedish women.
Women react differently, Ms. Baksi said, to issues like the war
in Bosnia, where rapes have been used as a war tactic.
``Men always want to calculate everything, and investigate,
investigate,'' Ms. Baksi said. ``We feel!''
Ms. Baksi said the large percentage of women also could affect
the way government operates.
``It should be possible to combine politics with having a
family. No late night meetings, for example,'' she said.
Before the election, 33 percent of Sweden's lawmakers were
women, while neighboring Finland and Norway had 39 and 36 percent
respectively.
Among the new female members will be Swedish actress Hanna
Zetterberg, 21, and Lena Sandlin, 24, daughter of the country's
Olympic hockey coach.
The Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean off Africa's eastern coast,
holds the world record with 46 percent women in its parliament,
according to 1993 statistics from the Interparliamentary Union.
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| 572.5 | | SWETSC::WESTERBACK | Mai pen rai! | Thu Sep 22 1994 09:49 | 7 |
| An interesting fact is that Ms Nalin Baksi, mentioned in the previous
reply, was said (on TV at least) to be the first moslem woman in a
western european parliament. I think it's a nice twist that the racist
New Democracy Party, who tried to scare us of the moslems, were thrown
out of parliament, and Ms Baksi was elected.
Hans
|
| 572.6 | Social Democrats go it alone | TLE::SAVAGE | | Fri Sep 23 1994 12:34 | 37 |
| STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Sweden's Social Democrats rejected a
coalition Wednesday and planned to govern alone, claiming only
their minority government could save the economy.
Four other parties have promised to support the Social
Democratic economic policies in Parliament, according to party
leader and likely prime minister Ingvar Carlsson, adding that his
government will be ``strong and durable.''
``The government which has the best chances of creating broad
agreement in (Parliament) is a Social Democratic government,''
Carlsson said two days after national elections.
He made his statement after failing to agree on a coalition
during intensive talks with all the parties that won seats in the
349-seat Riksdag, or Parliament, during Sunday's elections.
The Sunday election restored the Social Democrats to dominance
after three years in the opposition, giving them about 45 percent
of the vote. But the lack of a majority forced the party to form a
coalition or go it alone.
A center-left coalition between the Social Democrats and the
Liberal Party had been seen by businesses as the best option for
tackling the economic crisis, Sweden's worst since the 1930s.
Carlsson reportedly had been investigating a union with the
Liberals, who formed part of the outgoing center-right government,
but factions in both parties were strongly opposed.
Carlsson, who has held two days of talks with all the parties
who won seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, said the Social Democrats
already have lined up support in the new Parliament for most of its
promised $8.1 billion in budget cutbacks.
The Social Democratic leader, who had served as prime minister
from 1986 to 1991, was confident the Social Democrats would be able
to govern with a minority Cabinet. He added that his government
also would have the best chances of leading Swedes to approve
membership in the European Union in a Nov. 13 referendum.
``A Social Democratic government has the best chances of
creating constructive cooperation between the parties and the labor
market,'' Carlsson said.
There was no immediate reaction from financial markets or
businesses to news of a minority government.
|
| 572.7 | Meet the new ministers | TLE::SAVAGE | | Tue Oct 04 1994 11:33 | 105 |
|
STOCKHOLM, Sept 29 (Reuter) - Swedish Prime Minister
in-waiting Ingvar Carlsson named key ministers in his new Social
Democratic cabinet on Thursday after a general election ousted
the centre-right government.
Goran Persson was named finance minister, foreign aid expert
Lena Hjelm-Wallen was appointed foreign minister and party
secretary Mona Sahlin was named deputy prime minister. The
appointments were announced in a statement.
Carlsson named six ministerial posts in his minority Social
Democratic government which will take over from conservative
Prime Minister Carl Bildt's coalition next week.
Pierre Schori was given a ministerial portfolio with
responsibility for international cooperation and aid to central
and eastern Europe.
Laila Freivalds was named justice minister and Thage
Peterson, former speaker of parliament, defence minister.
========================================================================
STOCKHOLM, Sept 29 (Reuter) - Sweden's prime minister in
waiting, Ingvar Carlsson, named key ministers in his new Social
Democratic cabinet on Thursday.
The minority government, which will take over from
conservative Prime Minister Carl Bildt's coalition next week,
faces the tough task of cutting a huge state budget deficit and
securing a ``Yes'' vote in a referendum in November on whether
Sweden should join the European Union.
Carlsson, who ousted Bildt in a general election earlier
this month, gave the post of finance minister to Goran Persson.
Persson, a 45-year-old former school minister with a blunt
approach and no high-level economic training, will be plunged
into the spotlight as international financial markets focus on
Sweden's mountain of debt.
Carlsson named six ministerial appointments, three of them
women, in his minority government at a news conference.
The announcement was delayed by one day because of the
disaster early on Wednesday when a ferry sank in the Baltic Sea,
killing more than 800 people, most of them Swedes.
Foreign aid expert Lena Hjelm-Wallen, a member of the Social
Democratic Party's inner circle, was appointed foreign minister.
Hjelm-Wallen, 51, who will play a key role as the government
aims to take Sweden into the European Union from January 1 next
year, has previously been education minister and foreign aid
minister.
Party secretary Mona Sahlin, dubbed Carlsson's ``Crown
Princess'', was named deputy prime minister. The 37-year-old
entered parliament in 1982 and was labour minister for one year
in 1990.
Pierre Schori, 56, known for a sometimes aggressive style,
was given a ministerial portfolio with responsibility for
international cooperation and aid to central and eastern Europe.
Laila Freivalds, 52, was re-named justice minister after
serving in the post from 1988-91.
Thage Peterson, former speaker of parliament, was appointed
defence minister.
Persson repeated at a news conference that he plans to
propose a tough economic package before the EU referendum.
He said the first outlines of economic policy would be
announced on October 7 when the government presents its official
policy to parliament. He would not say whether new budget
savings would be included.
Persson and other ministers will now work to try to secure a
``Yes'' in the EU referendum. Opinion polls show Swedes are
closely divided on the issue.
========================================================================
STOCKHOLM, Sept 29 (Reuter) - Goran Persson, named Sweden's
new finance minister on Thursday by incoming Prime Minister
Ingvar Carlsson, has promised to bring economics out of the
textbooks and into the lives of ordinary people.
Persson, 45, a career politician with the Social Democratic
party (SDP), admits to being a generalist with no high-level
economic training.
He is confident he will be able to soften the blow for the
people of his party's harsh ``austerity today for welfare
tomorrow'' policy, while leaving the complexities of policy
formation to others.
With his bulky frame, rolled-up shirt sleeves and cheery
manner, Persson tries to look like a man used to a hard day's
work. It is an image which helps him talk to Swedes on the
street and reflects his background in local politics.
His relationship with markets may be stormy. Critics see a
wily character lurking amid the small-town origins, a cunning
that sometimes seems to shine through his large, tinted glasses.
They say his ability to influence both local and national
party machinery reflects a mastery of the SDP network which has
dominated Sweden's post-war power structure.
His blunt approach also reflects an appetite for power.
Persson belongs to the so-called ``40s generation'', whose
political activism in the 1960s led them into the town halls and
ministries during the 1970s and 80s.
Governments have come and gone but his generation have shown
themselves to be hardy defenders of the Swedish economic, labour
market and social welfare models. Many remain in positions of
authority even after three years of centre-right rule.
Called in at short notice in 1989 to take over the Education
Ministry and deal with a teachers' strike, Persson has leaped up
the ministerial and shadow ranks, taking the finance portfolio
in 1993 after a succession of older men fell out of favour.
He says he can fully reconcile his party's role as standard-
bearer for the welfare state with his likely ministerial task of
surgeon, trimming down spending excesses to save the core of the
public sector for the future.
Persson, divorced this year, has two daughters. He was born
in Vingaker, south of Stockholm.
After graduating from high school in 1969, Persson studied
at the College of Orebro in central Sweden until 1971.
|
| 572.8 | Government minister list | TLE::SAVAGE | | Wed Oct 12 1994 17:16 | 73 |
| Social democrats - 20
Liberal - 1
Communist - 1
---------------------
Total 22
Ingvar Carlsson, Stadsminister Prime Minister, born 1934
Mona Sahlin, Vice Stadsminister vice Prime Minister, born 1957
Jan Nygren, Samordningsminister Coordination Minister, born 1950
Ministry of Justice
Laila Freivalds, Justititeminister Minister of Law, born 1942
Foreign Office
Lena Hjelm-Wallin, Utrikesminister Minister of the Foreign Office,
born 1943
Pierre Schori, Vice utrikesminister Vice Minister of the foreign
Office, born 1938
Mats Hellstrvm,Utrikeshandelsminister Minister of Foreing Trade, born
1942
Defence
Thage G Peterson, Fvrsvarsminister Minister of Defence, Born 1933.
Social Affairs
Ingela Thalin, Socialminister Minister of Social Affairs, born 1943
Anna Hedborg, Bitrddande socialminister Assisting Minister of Social
Affairs, born 1944
Communication
Ines Uusmann, Kommunikationsminister Minister of Communication, born
1948
Finance
Gvran Persson, Fininsminister Minister of Finance, born 1949
Education
Carl Tham, Utbildningsminister Minister of Education, born 1939
Ylva Johansson, Skolminister Minister of Schools, born 1964
Agriculture
Margareta Winberg, Jordbruksminister Minister of Agriculture, born
1947
Labour Market
Anders Sundstrvm, Arbetsmarknadsminister Minister of Labour Market,
born 1952
Leif Blomberg, bitrddande Arbetsmarknadsminister Assiting Minister of
Labour Market, born 1941
Culture
Margot Wallstrvm, Kulturminister Minister of Culture, born 1954
Business and Trade Development
Sten Hekscher, Ndringsminister Minister of Business and Trade born
1942
Habitation and Energy
Jvrgen Andersson, Bostads- och Energiminister Minister of Habitation
and Energy, born 1946
Civil Affairs
Marita Ulvskog, Civilminister Minister of Civile Affairs born 1951
Environment
Anna Lindh, Miljvminister Minister of Environment, born 1957
From data collected by
Dan Stenborg Kista Stockholm Sweden
[email protected]
Based in part on an article in Dagens Nyheter dated 94-oct-09.
|
| 572.9 | | SWECSC::AHLGREN | http://www.soo.dec.com/~ahlgren/home.html | Mon Nov 14 1994 03:18 | 2 |
| Just a note, both the liberal and the "communist" has been members of
the SD's for quite some time...
|
| 572.10 | September 1995 elections | TLE::SAVAGE | | Tue Sep 19 1995 14:27 | 42 |
| From: [email protected] (Jon-Ivar Skullerud)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.european-union,eunet.politics,soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Swedish EP elections
Date: 18 Sep 1995 11:34:49 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University
The Swedish elections took place 17 September 1995.
The new MEPs are as follows:
Socialdemokraterna (PES) 7 (-4)
Moderata samlingspartiet (EPP) 5 (-)
Miljoepartiet de Groena (GR) 4 (+3)
Vaensterpartiet (GUE) 3 (+2)
Centerpartiet (???) 2 (+2)
Folkpartiet liberalerna (ELDR) 1 (-1)
Kristdemokratiska (EPP) 0 (-1)
samlingspartiet
I don't know which group Centerpartiet will affiliate with; it may
depend on which persons will represent Centern, something that is
decided by the detailed count and won't be clear for another week. The
most likely options, I guess, would be ELDR, or possibly EDA. Does
anyone know more about that?
Which means that
PES is reduced from 221 to 217 members
EPP is reduced from 173 to 172
ELDR is reduced from 52 to 51
(or increased to 53 if Centerpartiet joins)
GUE is increased from 31 to 33
GR is increased from 25 to 28
--
______ ______________________________________
/ | |
| jon | jon ivar skullerud |
\______ | |
\ | [email protected] |
ivar | | http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/~jonivar/ |
_______/ |______________________________________|
|