The Centre Party ( , C) is a liberal political party in Sweden, founded in 1913. The party focuses on the national economy, the environment, political

decentralisation Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...

and

social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...

. It is represented in all of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

's parliamentary committees, currently holding 24 seats. From 2019 to 2021, it provided confidence and supply to the Löfven II cabinet. Traditionally part of the Nordic agrarian family of political parties, the Centre Party has increasingly switched focus towards

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

, equality of the sexes and

of governmental authority. The party describes itself as liberal feminist, campaigning for policies which enhance gender equality on an

individualist Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

basis. Its environmental policies stress the importance of consent and voluntary action, including working with

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

s and private landowners to promote

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

within a mutually agreeable framework. The Centre Party has produced two

prime ministers of Sweden A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

, who served a total of three terms;

Thorbjörn Fälldin Nils Olof Thorbjörn Fälldin (24 April 1926 – 23 July 2016) was a Swedish politician and farmer who served as the prime minister of Sweden from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1979 to 1982, heading three non-consecutive cabinets. He was the ...

was the last Centre Party prime minister, and held the post for a total of five years, from 1976 to 1978 and then again from 1979 to 1982. It is a member of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

, the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

and

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

. It was originally named the Farmers' League ( ; B).

History

The party was founded in 1913 as the Farmers' League (, B). In 1922, it merged with the ( , JR), and adopted its current name in 1957. At that time, it had been the closest ally of the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...

(SAP) for twenty-five years, and one of the SAP's

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

partners between 1936 and 1945 as well as between 1951 and 1957. However, it later revised this strategy in order to establish a closer long-term alliance between the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

''borgerlig'' ("bourgeois" or "nonsocialist") parties that achieved power between 1976 and 1982 and between 1991 and 1994.

served as Leader of the Centre Party and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1976 until 1982, except for a short interregnum between 1978 and 1979 led by Liberal People's Party leader

Ola Ullsten Stig Kjell Olof "Ola" Ullsten (23 June 1931 – 28 May 2018) was a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1978 to 1979 and leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1978 to 1983. He also served as Deputy Prime ...

. The Centre Party joined another centre-right government following the 1991 general election, led by

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

leader

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He led the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, appearing as its lead candidate in four general elections, b ...

. During the leaderships of

Maud Olofsson Maud Elisabeth Olofsson (born ''Olsson'', 9 August 1955) is a former Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Swede ...

and

Annie Lööf Annie Marie Therése Lööf (, ; born 16 July 1983) is a Swedish politician and lawyer. She was Member of the Riksdag, representing her home constituency of Jönköping County, from 2006 to 2023, and leader of the Centre Party from September 20 ...

in the 2000s, the party positioned itself clearly on the

political right Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property, ...

as a small-business-friendly party, advocating market liberal policies and viewing the Social Democrats as its main opponent.Guide: Centerpartiets historia och ideologi
", ''DN'', 2011-04-18'The Centre Party is a confused party': expert
", ''The Local'', 14 January 2013 In 2005, the Centre Party sold the newspaper group it owned, Centertidningar AB, for 1.8 billion SEK, which made it the richest political party in the world at the time. In 2022, Annie Lööf resigned her position as Leader of the Centre Party.

Ideology and political position

The Centre Party sits on the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

of the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...

. The party has also described as

economically liberal Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...

, and "ecological-liberal". It describes itself as a green-liberal party, while it has been traditionally associated with

agrarianism Agrarianism is a social philosophy, social and political philosophy that advocates for rural development, a Rural area, rural agricultural lifestyle, family farming, widespread property ownership, and political decentralization. Those who adhere ...

and the Nordic agrarian party family. Former party leader Demirok had pledged to end

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

in the party.

National economy

The party has been described as one of Sweden's most market liberal parties in liberal, socialist and conservative media. It describes itself as "a party with a green, social and decentralised liberalism". The party advocates lower taxes, greatly reduced employer contributions, a freer market and an increased . The party is a major supporter of the interests of

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

es, farmers and entrepreneurs. It also favours investments in infrastructure and transportation, to allow employees to work in bigger cities but still live in the rural areas and vice versa. On economic policy, it views the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

and the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

as its opponents, though it supported a government led by the Social Democrats till 2022.

Immigration

The party is liberal on immigration, seeking to combine a generous immigration policy with an initially more restrictive contribution policy to the immigrants. After the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

, the party proposed to replace the existing establishment grants with establishment loans, similar to the Swedish student loans. The balance of the state responsibility of accepting

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s with their responsibility for integration into Swedish society is at the core of the party policy. In January 2016, the party for example proposed to give all immigrants compulsory civic education in both rights and expectations from the society.

European Union

The party is a decentralist

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

party that considers the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

important for the preservation of peace, freedom and trade in Europe. The party also advocates a smaller but sharper European Union focused on promoting democracy, peace, free movement, free trade, vigorous action against climate change and collaboration against organized crime, while also believing that Sweden should stay outside the

Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progressi ...

and keep the krona as its currency. The party is a member of the

ALDE Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...

and its affiliated

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

group

. In the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

, the Centre Party sits with the Renew Europe CoR group with one full and one alternate member for the 2020-2025 mandate.

Publications

The Centre Party owned a media consortium called Centertidningar AB. It included newspapers that the party had either started on their own or brought from competitors. It included ''

Hallands Nyheter ''Hallands Nyheter'' is a Swedish newspaper, founded by Artur Lagerihn in 1905. The newspaper is published in Falkenberg. It has a daily circulation of 31,600 and is owned by Stampen AB. The editorial page supports Centerpartiet. It is printed ...

'', ''

Södermanlands Nyheter ''Södermanlands Nyheter'' is a newspaper published in Nyköping, Sweden, that has been in circulation since 1893. History and profile The paper was established in 1893. The headquarters of the paper is in Nyköping, and the parent company is E ...

'', '' Länstidningen i Södertälje'', '' Nynäshamns Posten'', '' Norrtelje Tidning'', ''

Lidingö Tidning Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

'', '' Ljusdalsposten'', ''

Östersunds-Posten ''Östersunds-Posten'', simply ''ÖP'', is a Swedish language local newspaper published in Östersund, Sweden. The paper has been in circulation since 1877. History and profile ''Östersunds-Posten'' was established in 1877. Its headquarters is ...

'', '' Hälsingekuriren'' and '' Hudiksvalls Tidning''. The consortium was split in 2005 and sold to Mittmedia,

Stampen Group The Stampen Group is a Swedish media group and one of Sweden's biggest newspaper owners. The main businesses are local newspapers, of which the largest is . It was founded in 2005. The Stampen Group owns a total of 23 Swedish newspapers, 35 free ...

and VLT for a total of 1.815 billion

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usual ...

Election results

ImageSize = width:1000 height:200 PlotArea = width:900 height:160 left:30 bottom:30 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:25.1 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors= id:SB value:rgb(0.0,0.6,0.2) PlotData= bar:% color:SB width:22 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1914 from:start till:0.2 text:0.2 bar:1917 from:start till:5.3 text:5.3 bar:1920 from:start till:7.9 text:7.9 bar:1921 from:start till:11.0 text:11.0 bar:1924 from:start till:10.8 text:10.8 bar:1928 from:start till:11.2 text:11.2 bar:1932 from:start till:14.1 text:14.1 bar:1936 from:start till:14.4 text:14.4 bar:1940 from:start till:12.0 text:12.0 bar:1944 from:start till:13.6 text:13.6 bar:1948 from:start till:12.4 text:12.4 bar:1952 from:start till:10.7 text:10.7 bar:1956 from:start till:9.5 text:9.5 bar:1958 from:start till:12.7 text:12.7 bar:1960 from:start till:13.6 text:13.6 bar:1964 from:start till:13.2 text:13.2 bar:1968 from:start till:15.7 text:15.7 bar:1970 from:start till:19.9 text:19.9 bar:1973 from:start till:25.1 text:25.1 bar:1976 from:start till:24.1 text:24.1 bar:1979 from:start till:18.1 text:18.1 bar:1982 from:start till:15.5 text:15.5 bar:1985 from:start till:8.8 text:8.8 bar:1988 from:start till:11.3 text:11.3 bar:1991 from:start till:8.5 text:8.5 bar:1994 from:start till:7.7 text:7.7 bar:1998 from:start till:5.1 text:5.1 bar:2002 from:start till:6.2 text:6.2 bar:2006 from:start till:7.9 text:7.9 bar:2010 from:start till:6.6 text:6.6 bar:2014 from:start till:6.1 text:6.1 bar:2018 from:start till:8.6 text:8.6 bar:2022 from:start till:6.7 text:6.7

Riksdag

European Parliament

Voter base

Traditionally, most of the party's voters come from rural areas and include farmers and agricultural producers. Since the takeover of

in recent years, the party has been attracting liberal voters from urban areas in central Sweden. It is believed that voters from the Liberals have been moving to the Centre Party due to changes in both parties.

Leaders of the Centre Party

The Leader of the Centre Party is its highest political and organisational officer, its

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in the National Executive Board and representative of the party in the media, in public and with other parties. The party leader has often held an important cabinet portfolio when the party has been part of a coalition.

Current Members of the Swedish Parliament

Current Members of the Swedish Parliament: * Daniel Bäckström, parliamentary leader, spokesperson for rural affairs, member for

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

Ulrika Heie Ulrika Carlsson (born 17 April 1965) is a Sweden, Swedish Centre Party (Sweden), Centre Party politician. She has been a List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, member of the Parliament of Sweden, Riksdag since 2006 and is elected from the consti ...

, first deputy parliamentary leader and spokesperson for infrastructure policy, member for Västra Götalands läns östra * Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, second deputy parliamentary leader, spokesperson for enterprise, member for

Stockholms stad Stockholm Municipality () or the City of Stockholm () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, making it the second most ...

* Anders W. Jonsson, spokesperson för healthcare policy, member for Gävleborg * Alireza Akhondi, spokesperson for housing, member for Stockholms län * Anders Karlsson, member for Jönköpings län * Anders Ådahl, spokesperson for science and higher education, member for Västra götalands läns västra * Anna Lasses, spokesperson for international aid, member for Stockholms län *

Anne-Li Sjölund Anne-Li Sjölund (born 1966) is a Swedish politician. , she serves as Member of the Riksdag representing the constituency of Västernorrland County. She became a member after Emil Källström Emil Källström (born 23January 1987) is a Swedis ...

, spokesperson for sports, member for Västernorrland *

Catarina Deremar Catarina Deremar (born 1965) is a Swedish politician. , she serves as a Member of the Riksdag representing the constituency of Uppsala County Uppsala County () is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the cit ...

, spokesperson for culture, member for

Uppsala län Uppsala County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is Uppsala, the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna County, Dalarna, Stockholm County, Stockholm, Södermanland County, S ...

* Christofer Bergenblock, spokesperson for elderly care and disability rights, member for

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Skåne, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Br ...

* Helena Lindahl, spokesperson for taxation, member for

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

* Helena Vilhelmsson, spokesperson for gender equality, member for

Örebro län Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and has a ...

* Jonny Cato, spokesperson for employment, member for Skåne läns västra *

Kerstin Lundgren Kerstin Margareta Lundgren (born 14 January 1955) is a Sweden, Swedish Centre Party (Sweden), Centre Party politician. She has been a List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, 2006-2010, member of the Parliament of Sweden, Riksdag since 2002, ta ...

, third deputy speaker of the Riksdag, spokesperson for foreign policy, member for Stockholms län *

Malin Björk Malin Anna Björk (born 22 May 1972) was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) of the Swedish Left Party anThe Left (GUE/NGL)from 2014 to 2024. She was a full member of the parliament'Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety( ...

, spokesperson for constitutional affairs, member for

* Martin Ådahl, spokesperson for economic policy, member for

* Martina Johansson, spokesperson for social security, member for

Södermanland Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...

* Mikael Larsson, spokesperson for defence, member for Västra Götalands läns södra * Muharrem Demirok, member for

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

Niels Paarup-Petersen Niels Paarup-Petersen (born 1978) is a Swedish politician. he serves as Member of the Riksdag representing the constituency of Malmö Municipality Malmö Municipality (), or City of Malmö (''Malmö stad''), is a Swedish municipality in Sk ...

, spokesperson for education policy, member for

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Rickard Nordin Rickard is both an English surname and a masculine Swedish given name. It is of European origin and it is closely related to the given name Richard and the surnames Rickards and Richards. People with the surname *Bob Rickard (born 1945), founder ...

, spokesperson for energy and climate policy, member for

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

* Stina Larsson, spokesperson for environmental policy, member for Skåne läns södra * Ulrika Liljeberg, spokesperson for legal policy, member for

Dalarna Dalarna (; ), also referred to by the English exonyms Dalecarlia and the Dales, is a (historical province) in central Sweden. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Nor ...

Substitutes: * Mona Smedman (January - May 2024), for Daniel Bäckström * Emelie Nyman (January - June 2024), for Niels Paarup-Petersen

Party leadership

The current party leadership includes: *

Anna-Karin Hatt Sara ''Anna-Karin'' Hatt (; born 7 December 1972) is a Swedish politician and corporate executive who has been leader of the Centre Party since 3 May 2025. Hatt served as Minister for Regions from 2010 to 2011, as Minister for Digital Develo ...

, chairperson of the Centre Party * Rickard Nordin, deputy chairperson of the Centre Party * Daniel Bäckström,

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...

and spokesperson for rural policy * Ulrika Liljeberg, member of parliament and spokesperson for legal policy * Martin Ådahl, member of parliament and spokesperson for economic policy * Madelaine Jacobsson, mayor of the

Nordmaling Municipality Nordmaling Municipality () is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Nordmaling. History The municipal system in Sweden was introduced in 1863 and Nordmaling Municipality was one of the entities created ...

* Karin Ernlund, Secretary-General of the Centre Party

References

External links

The Swedish Parliament: The Centre Party
{{Authority control 1913 establishments in Sweden Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Centre Party (Sweden) Centre-right parties in Europe Green liberalism

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Liberal parties in Sweden Nordic agrarian parties Political parties established in 1913