The Centre Democrats () was a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

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 ...

, founded in 1974. While the party has described itself as a "centre alternative," it has been described externally as a

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

party. It agitated against immigration from the 1980s, but toned down the issue in the 2000s, focusing more on local, social and economic issues. The party had some local representation from the 1970s, until 2006, when it lost its final local seat.

History

The party was founded in June 1974 by the lead of John Görnebrand of

Simrishamn Simrishamn is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Simrishamn Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,527 inhabitants in 2010. Despite its small population, Simrishamn is, for historical reasons, usually still referred to as a Stad ...

as an alliance of multiple local parties in

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

. It was mainly modeled after the Danish Centre Democrats, including influences from

Mogens Glistrup Mogens Glistrup (28 May 1926 in Rønne – 1 July 2008 in Virum) was a Danish politician, lawyer and tax protester. He founded the Progress Party, and was a member of the Folketing (1973–1983 and 1987–1990). He had his parliamentary immunity ...

and his Progress Party. The party won several local municipal seats in elections during the 1970s and 1980s, and was even represented in the municipal government in

Båstad Båstad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably mor ...

in a cooperation with the

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 ...

after the 1979 election. Before the 1982 election, Harry Franzén was elected as new party chairman, and the party started to focus considerably more on

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

issues. The party began speaking against immigrant native language education and called the refugee policy a "travel agency mafia" for refugees. During the

Refugee controversy in Sjöbo The refugee controversy in Sjöbo, Sweden are the surrounding events of the 1988 referendum that banned Sjöbo Municipality from admitting foreign refugees. In 1987, despite opposition and demonstrations, local Centre Party politician Sven-Oll ...

, the party supported the side of Sven-Olle Olsson. Right after the 1988 election, the Centre Democrats split in two factions, led by Harry Franzén and John Nielsen. Nielsen broke away in early 1989 with the local

Svedala Svedala (, outdatedly ; is a locality and the seat of Svedala Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It bor ...

chapter, and turned it into a local chapter of the Progress Party. By the 1991 election, he had however gone back to the Centre Democrats. In turn, many leading members of the Centre Democrats went over to

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a type of democracy in Marxism, based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that w ...

by the same election. By 1997, the party had just around 300 members. For the 2006 election the party lost its final local representation, a seat it had held in

Svalöv Svalöv () is a locality and the seat of Svalöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 3,633 inhabitants in 2010. It is around north of Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after ...

Election results

Local representation

1976 election; 2 mandates in

and 2 in

. 1979 election; 4 mandates in Simrishamn, 3 in Båstad, 1 in

Rättvik Rättvik is a locality on the eastern shore of the lake Siljan and the seat of Rättvik Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 4,686 inhabitants in 2010. Its bandy club IFK Rättvik has reached the highest division Elitserien and has bu ...

and 4 in

. 1982 election; 3 mandates in Simrishamn. 1985 election; 2 mandates in Simrishamn. 1988 election; 3 mandates in Simrishamn, 1 in Båstad, 2 in

and 3 in Svalöv. 1991 election; 6 mandates in Simrishamn and 4 in Svalöv. 1994 election; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv. 1998 election; 5 mandates in Simrishamn and 3 in Svalöv. 2002 election; 1 mandate in Svalöv.

Party chairmen

* John Görnebrand (1974–1982) * Harry Franzén (1982–2006)

References

External links

Official website
in mirrors from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Authority control Centrist parties in Sweden 1974 establishments in Sweden Political parties established in 1974 Defunct political parties in Sweden