"Well it's just an wikibox featuring an alternate parliament of Sweden, there's nothing interesting about tha-... oh.
Oh."
The Free-minded Party (Swedish: De Frisinnade) is a Swedish political party formed in 1923 after a split in the Liberal Coalition Party over the question of prohibition which saw a number of pro-prohibition MPs leave and form the Free-minded Party. Whilst the initial split from the Liberals was due to the prohibition issue, the gradual rightward move of the Liberals as they absorbed various minor rightwing movements and emerged as the leading opponent to the Social Democrats only served to deepen the chasm between the Liberals and their former colleagues. During the decades that followed the Free-minded Party became a main alternative to the two big parties alongside the Farmer's League (now the Democrats). But while that party primarly served as a viable third party for those who were living in the countryside, the Free-minded Party had their strong base in the cities and suburbs, in particular among more highly educated voters. During the 20th century the party only participated in government once, during the wartime coalition government in the 40s, relegating them to little power beyond shouting from the opposition in the Riksdag. However it was a completely different story in Sweden's second largest city Gothenburg, where the Free-mindeds were the big party on the right, opposing the Social Democrats and governing alone or with the Liberals on those few occasions where the Social Democrats didn't win the elections for the Gothenburg City Council.
After staying out of government for more than half a century the Free-mindeds got their best election result ever in 2013 when they attained 29 seats and thus denied the Social Democrats' Jonas Sjöstedt a majority in his bid for re-election. For the first time since the 1960s no single party had won a majority in the Riksdag, and for the first time since that decade a coalition would be formed. The Free-minded Party entered government for the first time since World War II, in a coalition with the Social Democrats. Whilst many of their strongest supporters would mention their successes in government; the Green Infrastructure Plan, the tax cuts for low and middle income earners, the Sami Rights Act, no one can deny that governing took a toll. Especially considering that they lost what was percieved as their most important pledge during the 2013 election; proportional representation. There was a referendum and they lost, simple as that. But suddenly all the energy behind the Free-minded Party had disappeared.
The party dropped from 29 seats to only 6, their leader going down with the ship. In the wake of the disaster in 2017 they picked someone who had managed to do the impossible twice to replace him. In 2013 Jan Jönsson had won the Stockholm seat of Hammarby Sjö in a major upset, believed by many to be a mere flash in the pan caused by the Free-minded wave sweeping through the big cities of Sweden. He had been made a minister only weeks afterward and was in every way a face of the coalition government, but in 2017 he still managed to survive by a margin of slightly more than 100 votes when his colleagues who were thought to be in much safer seats went down one by one. Jan Jönsson was elected leader of the Free-minded Party in January 2019 and became first leader of the party in more than 30 years that didn't hail from a Gothenburg constituency. Only time will tell if the party will share his electoral fortunes come the next election in 2021.
The
Sjöstedt II Cabinet (Regeringen Sjöstedt II) was the cabinet of Sweden from October 2013 to October 2017. It was a coalition government consiting of two parties, the Social Democratic Party of Sweden and the Free-minded Party of Sweden. It succeeded the Sjöstedt I Cabinet, a Social Democratic majority government, and was succeeded by the Sjöstedt III Cabinet, also a Social Democratic majority government.
Peter Eriksson is a Swedish Member of Parliament for the constituency of Torne Valley (
Tornedalen). He was first elected in a by-election held in 2003 after the previous MP, Per-Ola Eriksson, resigned after taking up an offer by the government to become the Director-General of Swedish Railways. As is costumary in Swedish politics when an opposition MP resigns in order to take an administrative position within the government, all parties represented in the Riksdag aside from the former MP's party, the Democrats, did not field any candidate in the by-election. However Peter Eriksson did not in any way feel bound by that gentleman's agreement, and with six relatively successful years as the first Green mayor in the country he couldn't pass up this opportunity. With only one serious opponent and quite a few ridiculous ones, Peter Eriksson pulled off a major upset just like he had done six years prior, and became the first (and thus far only) Green Member of Parliament. That success carried him forward to being elected as Spokesperson for the Greens the next year, a role he held kept for the duration of the four year term limit that was in place at the time.
His election was initially seen as a by-election fluke by all of the major parties, blamed on a poor candidate selection made by the Democrats, but when he won the seat again during the general election with an increased majority it was taken seriously. However Peter Eriksson's successes never seemed to translate to the national party. It was rather the opposite, as he at times sought to distance himself from the national Green Party in order to win re-election in his own constituency. After a couple of disappointing results without their only slightly famous represenative at the helm the Greens came crawling back to Peter in 2015, this time asking him to be the sole leader of the party, with the spokesperson system abolished upon his election. He was back and in charge for real this time, and surely if he could shape the strategy and campaigns of the party it would finally lead to some true success. Except... it didn't. The election in 2017 came and went with some minor gains here and there on the municipal level, but the party pretty much held on to the same national vote share they'd got four years prior. The only real thing that changed is that Peter Eriksson's majority in Torne Valley was cut in half. Now the question a great deal of members of the Greens are beginning to ask is: Did Peter Eriksson win his seat over and over again by having a good strategy for getting people to vote for the Greens, or did he just have a good strategy for getting people to vote for Peter Eriksson?