Sten Olof Håkan Johansson (born 31 July 1937) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician, who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 1987 to 1998 and Minister for the Environment from 1991 to 1994. Olof Johansson was born in

Ljungby Ljungby () is the central locality of Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 15,785 inhabitants in 2015. Ljungby was instituted in 1829 as a ''köping'', or ''market town'', and did not become a municipality of its own when the fi ...

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. ...

. He studied at the

Stockholm School of Economics The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; sv, Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with ...

, and was the leader of the Centre Party youth organisation from 1969 to 1971. In 1971 he was elected a Member of the Swedish

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, a position he held until 1976, and again 1978–1979 and 1982–1998. He held cabinet posts in the centre-right governments 1976–1978 and 1979–1982. In 1987 he succeeded

Karin Söder Karin Ann-Marie Söder (née Bergenfur; 30 November 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a Swedish Centre politician. She was the first woman in Sweden to be elected the leader of a major political party. She headed the Swedish Centre Party from 1985 ...

, who stepped down due to health reasons, as the leader of the Centre Party. When the centre-right regained power in 1991, Johansson became Minister for the Environment in the

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...

government, but left the post over his opposition to the construction of the Oresund Bridge in the summer of 1994, shortly before the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

regained power in the September elections. After having seen his party doing badly in the elections of 1994 and still trailing in the polls less than a year before the upcoming 1998 elections, Johansson stepped down as party leader, leaving the fate of the party in the hands of his little-known successor

Lennart Daléus Lennart Daléus (born 25 June 1946) is a Swedish politician, who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 1998 to 2001. Born in Stockholm, Daléus was the leader of the Option 3 campaign for the 1980 referendum on nuclear power in Swede ...

, prompting the Centre Party to print election posters with a portrait of Daléus, simply saying "This is Lennart". In 1999, he was awarded the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') ( English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King ...

. After his withdrawal from politics he has been appointed as

Chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of various institutions and companies. Most notably, he was the chairman of the Swedish state-owned

alcohol monopoly An alcohol monopoly is a government monopoly on manufacturing and/or retailing of some or all alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and spirits. It can be used as an alternative for total prohibition of alcohol. They exist in all Nordic count ...

company, Systembolaget, between 2002 and 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson, Olof 1937 births Living people Members of the Riksdag from the Centre Party (Sweden) Leaders of political parties in Sweden Swedish Ministers for Communications Stockholm School of Economics alumni Recipients of the Illis quorum Swedish Ministers for Nordic Cooperation