Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party (Swedish: Centerpartiet, abbreviated C) is a centrist, agrarian and liberal political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterised as social liberal, focusing on agricultural, environmental, and rural questions. Long-term key issues have been opposition to nuclear power and proposals to decentralise governmental authority. The Centre Party is currently a minor party in the centre-right Alliance coalition government lead by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
The party was founded in 1913 as the Farmers' League (Swedish: Bondeförbundet). In 1922 it merged with Jordbrukarnas Riksförbund (National Farmers Union). The name of the party changed from Bondeförbundet in 1957. It had then been the closest ally of the Social Democrats for 25 years, and coalition partners 1936–1945 as well as 1951–1957, but has since revised this strategy in order to establish a closer long-term alliance between the centre-right (Swedish borgerlig, lit. "bourgeois" or "nonsocialist") parties, that succeeded the Social Democratic cabinets 1976–1982 and 1991–1994. The Swedish Prime Minister Torbjörn Fälldin was the leader of the Centre Party and Prime Minister in 1976-1982, excepting a short interregnum in 1978-1979 by Liberal People's Party leader Ola Ullsten.
The Centre Party joined a centre-right government once again following the 1991 election, however, this government was led by the Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt. In recent years, the party has changed direction to become a more classical liberal party, which has attracted interest from voters in urban areas. In 2006 the Centre Party was the fastest growing party in Stockholm.
In 2005 the Centre Party sold its ownership of the newspaper group Centertidningar AB for 1.8 billion SEK, thus making it the richest political party in the world.
Read more about Centre Party (Sweden): 2006 Election, Voters, Party Leaders, Current Members of Parliament
Famous quotes containing the words centre and/or party:
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“It is well-known what a middleman is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)