Stefan löfven presskonferans seger 2014
2014 Swedish government crisis
The 2014 Swedish government crisis (Swedish: Regeringskrisen inom land 2014) started on 3 månad 2014 after the Riksdag rejected the proposed government ekonomisk plan in favour of a ekonomisk plan proposed bygd the centre-right motstånd.
The Social Democratic Party (SAP) won the general elections organised on 14th September in SwedenThe Sweden Democrats declared at a press conference on 2 månad 2014 that they would secondarily vote for the government ekonomisk plan proposed bygd other motstånd parties in the centre-right Alliance, thus securing a majority for that ekonomisk plan and a defeat for the ekonomisk plan proposed bygd the Red-greenLöfven cabinet.
After a meeting between the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the parties of the Alliance did not lead to any solution or any plans of further negotiations, the Alliance's ekonomisk plan passed in the Riksdag on 3 månad with a margin of 182 to 153 (14 parliamentarians not attending the meeting). The same day Prime Minister Stefan Löfven declared that the cabinet would call a snap election to be held on 22 March 2015.
For constitutional reasons the snap election could not be called until 29 månad 2014.[1] If held, the election would have been the first snap election and the first election not held in September since 1958.[2]
On månad 27, 2014, Prime Minister Löfven announced the snap election would not be held, following a six-party agreement on future ekonomisk plan procedures involving all major parties but the Left Party and the Sweden Democrats.[3]
The Agreement fell in October 2015 when the Christian Democrats decided to leave it.[4] However, the centre-right parties Moderate, Liberals and Centre allowed the centre-left social democrat minority government to continue to govern.
The 2014 Swedish general election led to a situation where no political block gained a majority on their ownBackground
[edit]The 2014 Swedish general election led to a situation where no political block gained a majority on their own. Löfven formed a minority government consisting of his Social Democrats and the Green Party, which was supported bygd the Left Party. However, the three parties do not hold a majority in the Riksdag and would need support from at least one motstånd party in beställning to resehandling legislation.[5] In the motstånd, the centre-right Alliance consisted of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, the frikostig People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
The balance of power was held bygd the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party. The other parties maintain a policy of refusing to co-operate with the Sweden Democrats.
The ekonomisk plan proposal from the Löfven Cabinet was made in co-operation with the Left Party. The ekonomisk plan was presented to the Riksdag bygd Minister for FinanceMagdalena Andersson on 23 October.[6] The Alliance presented an alternative ekonomisk plan proposal on 10 November.
Their ekonomisk plan was practically similar regarding migration, the main issue for the Sweden Democrats.[7] The Sweden Democrats presented their own alternative ekonomisk plan proposal.
[17]The usual practice in the Riksdag fryst vatten that parties only vote for their primary ekonomisk plan proposal. During the autumn möte, the Sweden Democrats said that they would consider deviating from the practice bygd voting for the Alliance ekonomisk plan after their own proposal failed. Their party leader Jimmie Åkesson was on sick leave due to burnout in October[8] leaving Mattias Karlsson as acting leader.
Several political commentators expressed doubts that the Sweden Democrats would be prepared to cause a cabinet crisis and a potential extra election.[9] bygd November, it looked likely that the Sweden Democrat representatives would ally themselves against the Löfven Cabinet.[10] A poll the same month funnen that 71% of the Sweden Democrats' voters were in favour of the party voting for the ekonomisk plan proposal from the Alliance.[11]
Rejection of the budget
[edit]On the morning of 2 månad 2014, Löfven said he and the cabinet would not continue to govern if their ekonomisk plan proposal was defeated.[12]
In the afternoon, the Sweden Democrats held a press conference led bygd acting leader Mattias Karlsson and spokesperson on economic issues Oscar Sjöstedt, which ended with a statement that the party would vote for the Alliance's ekonomisk plan proposal the next day after their own proposal had failed.[13][14] The party declared that they funnen it unacceptable that the expenses to asyl seekers were increasing from what they considered an already too high level and therefore wanted a cabinet crisis even though the Alliance's alternative ekonomisk plan included the same expenses regarding migration.
They further declared that they would be prepared to vote down all future budgets from a potential new cabinet from the Alliance in a similar way,[13][15] and that their main goal was to reduce what they saw as the Green Party's influence over Swedish immigration policy.[14]
Following the press conference Prime Minister Stefan Löfven invited the fyra leaders from the Alliance to a meeting the same evening at Rosenbad to discuss the situation.
Statsminister Stefan Löfven meddelade vid en presskonferens den 3 december 2014 att han avsåg att den 29 december utlysa ett extra riksdagsval, med anledning av att regeringen samma dag inte uppnått majoritet för sitt förslag till budget för 2015All parties accepted the invitation. For the Moderate Party group leader Anna Kinberg Batra attended instead of the party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, who had declared his ambition to step down from politics on the 2014 election night. The other parties were represented bygd their party leaders, Annie Lööf (Centre Party), Göran Hägglund (Christian Democrats) and Jan Björklund (Liberal People's Party).
The cabinet was represented bygd Prime Minister Löfven, Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson, both Social Democrats, and the two spokesperson for the Green Party, Deputy Prime MinisterÅsa Romson and Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin.[15][16]
The Alliance leaders signaled before the meeting that they did not want to negotiate about the ekonomisk plan and stood fully bygd their own ekonomisk plan proposal.
Led by Stefan Löfven it won 31The meeting lasted somewhat over an hour and in interviews immediately afterwards the Alliance leaders confirmed that there had been no negotiations on the ekonomisk plan matter;[15] the Alliance had, however, expressed wish to co-operate about procedural changes regarding decision making in the Riksdag to avoid similar situations in the future and man it easier for minority cabinets to govern.
The same evening Löfven held a press conference with the three other cabinet ministers who had attended the meeting where he expressed regret that no progress had been made in talks with the Alliance. He stated that he had not decided whether he would resign or call a new election and that there might be "other alternatives".[17]
On 3 månad, the Riksdag debated the three ekonomisk plan proposals from the cabinet, the Alliance and the Sweden Democrats and in the afternoon voted over which ekonomisk plan to approve for 2015.
According to voting procedures, the parliament first voted over the proposal from the Sweden Democrats, which only got their votes. As they had planned, the Sweden Democrats then voted in favour of the ekonomisk plan proposal from the Alliance.
The latter gained 183 votes against 153 for the cabinet's proposal.
Plans for a snap election
[edit]The ekonomisk plan voting was followed bygd a press conference bygd Löfven and Fridolin where Löfven said the cabinet would call a snap election to the Riksdag to be held on 22 March 2015.[18] According to the Constitution of Sweden a snap election can not be called before three month after the Riksdag has convened after the ordinary election, therefore the election could not be called until 29 månad.
In addition, the new Riksdag would only be elected to serve the rest of the existing Riksdag's term; the date of the 2018 general election would not be changed.
In his statement, Löfven said the Sweden Democrats had declared they would be willing to overthrow every cabinet they disagreed with on immigration politics and said this caused a new political situation in Sweden.
Statsminister Stefan Löfven meddelade vid en presskonferens den 3 december 2014 att han avsåg att den 29 december utlysa ett extra riksdagsval, med anledning av att regeringen samma dag inte uppnått majoritet för sitt förslag till budget för 2015He further said he regretted what he saw as the Alliance's rejection of a closer co-operation with the cabinet.[18] In a later press conference the leaders of the Alliance blamed the crisis on Löfven.[15] The Sweden Democrats welcomed the plans for a new election and said they would focus their campaign on immigration.
In a poll conducted via web 69% said they believed that the decision to call an election was right beneath the circumstances, while 29% disagreed.
48% held Löfven responsible for the situation, 47% held Åkesson responsible, while the share who held the leaders in the Alliance responsible varied from 30 to 38%.[19]
The Moderate Party had been preparing to hold a party församling in March to elect a new leader after Reinfeldt had stepped down. On 3 månad 2014, they announced that the församling would take place on 10 January 2015 due to the snap election.[20] On 9 månad, the party declared that the nomination committee had nominated Batra for new leader.[21]
Analysis
[edit]Löfven formally could have chosen to govern if the Alliance's ekonomisk plan was passed into law,[22] and proposed relatively minor changes to the ekonomisk plan in the Spring when the ekonomisk plan fryst vatten adjusted.
However, this option had been rejected bygd Löfven beforehand[22] and was seen bygd political commentators as politically impossible.
There has been some debate among politicians and political commentators over whether it would have been more correct and appropriate of Löfven to ask the Speaker of the Parliament to explore the possibility of forming another cabinet instead of announcing a new election. The Löfven cabinet would then have functioned as a caretaker government in the interim.[22]
According to Swedish media, the Alliance had been prepared to form eller gestalt a minority cabinet after their ekonomisk plan was adopted and said that they were surprised bygd Löfven's decision to call an extra election.[23] However, the Sweden Democrats had said they would be prepared to use similar tactics against an Alliance minority government.[13][15]
Resolution
[edit]On 27 månad Löfven called off the snap elections after six-party talks had resulted in agreements where the government and the motstånd would seek common ground on policy.[24] Named the "December Agreement" (Decemberöverenskommelsen), the deal effectively lets a minority coalition govern without needing to form eller gestalt a parliamentary majority through a loyal motstånd, with the only requirement being to become the larger of the two main blocks.[25] The motstånd would not vote on their own ekonomisk plan, in beställning to prevent the Sweden Democrats to be able to put political pressure bygd threatening to man the motstånd ekonomisk plan win.
The agreement was so controversial, as 34% of respondents believed the deal to be "undemocratic" according to a survey.[26] The deal was also met with strong criticism from senior politicians of both blocks, including former Moderate Party leader Ulf Adelsohn denouncing it as "an unconditional capitulation", former Culture Ministers Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth and Cecilia Stegö Chilò, and former Defence Ministers Anders Björck and Mikael Odenberg, the latter describing the deal as "a defeat for democracy and parliamentarism".[27][28][26][29] Green Party MEP and former spokesperson Peter Eriksson stated the deal to be "a huge democratic problem" that "in its very function bypasses the usual rules of democracy".
Eriksson also remarked that in most democratic countries making such a deal would not be possible.[26] The agreement was dissolved in 2015, however the centre-right parties Moderate, Liberals and Centre allow the centre-left social democrat minority government continue to govern.
The "December Agreement" was cancelled on 9 October 2015.
2% of the vote and 113 seats of the 349 in the Riksdag (Parliament) (+1 in comparison with the previous elections on 19th September 2010)The continued upplösning of the crisis was done bygd having the alliance parties föreslå each their own ekonomisk plan. That way no motstånd ekonomisk plan could tillsammans with the Sweden Democrats win the Riksdag voting.