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SWEDEN ELECTS

Sweden Elects: What happens next as parliament reopens

The Local's editor Emma Löfgren explains the key events to keep an eye on in Swedish politics this week.

Published: 26 September 2022 07:18 CEST
Sweden Elects: What happens next as parliament reopens
Swedish government negotiations are still ongoing, but parliament will soon be back in session. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

Hej,

The newly-elected members of Sweden’s parliament will gather for the first time for a roll call at 11am today. Afterwards, they will re-elect Moderate politician Andreas Norlén as speaker of parliament. So who is he and why is the role of the speaker so crucial in Swedish politics?

The Local explains in this article, but in short:

The speaker is the highest elected office in Sweden, ranked below the head of state (King Carl XVI Gustaf) but above the prime minister. He or she has three main duties: representing the Swedish parliament, presiding over meetings in the main chamber and choosing the next prime minister.

But wait, didn’t Sweden just elect a new prime minister? Well, no. Sweden elected members of parliament, and then it is up to the speaker to decide which party leader has the best shot at gathering enough support to be able to form a government. This task has been given to Ulf Kristersson, leader of the conservative Moderates, whose bloc won the election.

The post of speaker has been held by Andreas Norlén for the past four years. He was an MP for the Moderates, but just like in the UK, but unlike the US, the speaker of parliament is a non-partisan role and once elected he’s supposed to leave behind his political sympathies and be neutral.

Norlén, who presided over the infamous 134 days of regeringsbildning (“government formation”) following the 2018 election, is quite well liked in Sweden. His dare-I-say extremely geeky and in-depth knowledge of Swedish legislative history and penchant for reciting poetry has awarded him unexpected cult status, and the Swedish newspapers enjoy reporting on what kind of fika he serves at his meetings with party leaders when it’s time to negotiate a new government (this year: homegrown tomatoes).

The Moderates have previously always insisted that the largest party of the winning bloc should get to nominate the speaker, so there was initial concern that Sweden could end up with a representative of the far-right Sweden Democrats holding the second highest-ranking job in the land.

But in their government negotiations, the right-wing parties agreed to re-nominate Norlén, who is expected to be voted back in without any problems today, including by the left bloc (among whom he also enjoys a lot of respect, plus there’s been a sense of better the devil you know).

Three deputy speakers will also be voted in today. The Social Democrats are expected to get the post as first deputy speaker, also without problems. The second deputy speaker, however, could be a tough fight. The right-wing bloc has nominated Sweden Democrat MP Julia Kronlid, who has been criticised by the left bloc for her strict views on abortion and scepticism of evolutionary theory. There may be a few liberal members of the right bloc who would rather not vote for her, and as the speaker vote is anonymous it means they don’t have to stick to the party line.

We’ll find out more later today.

Then tomorrow, parliament opens. The ceremony is set to start at 2pm, when King Carl XVI Gustaf will declare parliament back in session.

British readers may wonder if the King’s speech is similar to the Queen’s (or henceforth the King’s) speech at the state opening of their parliament, where the royal spells out the government’s agenda for the coming year.

The short answer is it’s nothing like that. The King of Sweden holds even less political power and his speech on the opening day is usually short with good wishes for the members of parliament. Also, he tends to wear a fairly ordinary and business-like suit, rather than the full royal regalia.

There will also be music. Swedish soprano Susanna Stern is set to perform, as is the girls’ choir from Adolf Fredrik’s school of music.

You can follow the opening of parliament live here. The ceremony is in Swedish, but it will be interpreted into English and sign language.

If Sweden already had a new government, the prime minister would also give a speech, setting out their agenda for the parliamentary year.

Speaking of which, when will Sweden get a new government? Not in time for the opening of parliament at any rate (outgoing Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is in charge of a caretaker government until a new one has been chosen). Last I heard, the speaker, Norlén, expected the process to take another couple of weeks, although not as long as in 2018.

In other parliamentary news, the Moderates’ loss of their status as Sweden’s second-largest party means that they no longer get to have their meetings in the first chamber (the room that was used by first chamber MPs decades ago when the Swedish parliament had two chambers – the Social Democrats use the larger second chamber), which now belongs to the Sweden Democrats. Relatively unimportant, but probably stings.

Me, I’ve just started watching Herr Talman (“Mr Speaker”) – a political satire featuring Swedish politicians as puppets. Seeing Ulf Kristersson on the knee of Jimmie Åkesson as Santa Claus the week before last has scarred me for life, so thanks to public broadcaster SVT for that.

Next week, we should have a clearer idea of the timeframe for when Sweden might get a new government and what it will look like.

Until then, best wishes,

Emma

Sweden Elects is a weekly column by Editor Emma Löfgren looking at the big talking points and issues in the Swedish election race. Members of The Local Sweden can sign up to receive the column as a newsletter in their email inbox each week. Just click on this “newsletters” option or visit the menu bar.

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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