Liberals (Sweden)

The Liberals
Liberalerna
AbbreviationL
ChairpersonJohan Pehrson (outgoing)
Party secretarySimona Mohamsson
Parliamentary group leaderLina Nordquist
Founded5 August 1934 (1934-08-05)
Merger ofFree-minded National Association
Liberal Party of Sweden
HeadquartersRiksgatan 2, Stockholm
Student wingLiberala studenter
Youth wingLiberal Youth of Sweden
Women's wingLiberala kvinnor
Membership (2023) 9,799
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
Nordic affiliationCentre Group
Colours
  •   Blue
  •   White
Riksdag
16 / 349
European Parliament
1 / 21
County councils
57 / 1,720
Municipal councils
509 / 12,614
Website
liberalerna.se

The Liberals (Swedish: Liberalerna, L), formerly known as the Liberal People's Party (Swedish: Folkpartiet liberalerna) until 22 November 2015, is a conservative-liberal political party in Sweden. The Liberals ideologically have shown a broad variety of liberal tendencies. Currently they are seen as following economic liberalism and have been described as being centre-right. The party is a member of the Liberal International and Renew Europe.

Historically, the party was positioned in the centre of the Swedish political landscape, willing to cooperate with both the political left and the right. It has since the leadership of Lars Leijonborg and Jan Björklund in the 2000s positioned itself more towards the right. It was a part of the Alliance centre-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt from 2006 to 2014. The party's policies include action toward a free market economy and pushing for Sweden to join the Eurozone, as well as investing in nuclear power; it also focuses on gender equality, the school system and quality education. Many within the party have also argued in favour of European federalism.

In February 2019, following the conclusion of government negotiations, Jan Björklund announced his intention to step down from the leadership position after 11 years at the helm of the Liberals. He was succeeded by Nyamko Sabuni in June 2019. After the 2021 Swedish government crisis, the party withdrew its support for Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, and is now part of a right-wing government together with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats, with support from the Sweden Democrats, with Ulf Kristersson as their Prime Minister candidate The party ultimately agreed to join the Tidö Agreement and form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats and the Moderate Party, which rely on support from the Sweden Democrats.