Election of the Speaker
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the election of a new Speaker of the Riksdag after the Tidösamarbetet was voted down. V has chosen Andreas Norlén 1 because he has experience in difficult situations and high integrity, despite the fact that he is Moderate. V argues that all parties on the winning side must cooperate to reach a majority 1. M motions for Norlén and emphasizes his eight years of experience, continuity, and ability to create order in difficult times 2. S nominates Johanna Haraldsson and argues that the Speaker should come from the largest party 3. C supports S's nomination 4. MP supports S's nomination and criticizes V for voting for a Moderate Speaker, which complicates a red-green government 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Samuel Gonzalez Westling (V)
Mr. Speaker! We have now left a campaign behind us, and it is time for those of us gathered in this chamber to take the responsibility that has been entrusted to us by the Swedish people. It is a responsibility that has been entrusted to each and every one of us sitting in this chamber, and together we have a job to do.
The fine thing about the democracy we have in Sweden is that we are allowed to think differently and, in free and general elections, present exactly what we as parties want the direction for the country to be, which we all share and call our own. We are not always – not to say never – in complete agreement, and that is how it should be.
For the Left Party, it is clear that we have won strong support for our vision for Sweden. We are the party that has progressed the most of all. We see that the side we belong to has won the trust to together lead the country in a coming government during the coming years.
It cannot have escaped anyone that there are some deadlocks for us to reach there, but without Vänsterpartiet there will be no majority. It has been clear since the election result was finalized. One cannot indulge in wishful thinking about how one would preferably like it to be. All parties on the winning side need to see the political reality. Everyone is needed, and then everyone shall be included. If one wants to, one can, and politics is about wanting to.
When the situation is so locked and the turbulence so great, it is absolutely crucial for us in Vänsterpartiet to do what a large majority of the Swedish people expect of us: contribute to safety and stability.
What awaits seems to be a government formation that could take time. It requires someone who has experience of a similar situation. Andreas Norlén has previously handled difficult situations where tough knots have needed to be untied. He has succeeded in getting our prime ministerial candidate Magdalena Andersson elected before, and our assessment is that he will be able to do it again.
It will be said that Vänsterpartiet is voting for a moderate Speaker, but I want to be very clear that it is not because Andreas Norlén is moderate that we have made this decision. We have made it despite that.
He has, during the eight years he has served as Speaker, shown evidence of high integrity. I have personally witnessed how he has taken on even difficult questions with both enthusiasm and energy, always with respect and from an objective perspective. These are two things that are not always easy to maintain as a politician, especially not in times like these.
But even if Andreas Norlén has many good qualities, he is nevertheless no magician. The voters expect us, who have won the election, to be able to govern together. We do not agree on everything, but it is we who must rule together if a new government is to be able to take office. A good start would be to meet in the same room to get to know each other a little better.
Vänsterpartiet wants Magdalena Andersson to be elected and that we are four parties cooperating in a new government. When it is clear that we are to govern together, Vänsterpartiet is prepared to negotiate constructively and to give and take. But our mandates and our voters shall be shown the same respect as others. We have an election result to manage, and we can only do that together.
Andreas Norlén will be given a difficult task. But he has shown that he has managed it before. Therefore, the Left Party's choice of Speaker in this difficult situation is Andreas Norlén.
Mattias Karlsson (M)
Mr. Speaker and honorable members of the Swedish Riksdag! I would like to begin by moving that we today elect Andreas Norlén as Speaker of the Swedish Riksdag.
The Speaker holds a special position in Swedish democracy. The person who holds the office shall lead the Riksdag's work, represent the Swedish Riksdag and, when parliamentarism is tested, bear a very great responsibility for our democratic system and that it functions.
Andreas Norlén has done this for eight years. When he took office in 2018, he did so with solid experience of the Riksdag's work and with deep knowledge of our parliamentary system. He was a doctor of laws, had been a member of the Riksdag since 2006, and had for four years been chairman of the Riksdag's Committee on the Constitution.
But no CV could really prepare him for what awaited him. His first task as Speaker became to lead the most protracted government formation in Swedish political history – 134 days, several Speaker rounds, Prime Minister votes and, as we all remember, a considerable amount of coffee and cookies. The cookies actually became so associated with the Speaker rounds that a few years later, during the Social Democratic government crisis in 2021, Andreas noted that they felt very 2018 and instead offered the party leaders water and strawberries.
This perhaps says something about Andreas Norlén. The seriousness of the task has never had to mean that the office has become high-flown. He has succeeded in combining respect for the assignment with an everyday quality and a low-key humor that has made the Speaker's office more visible and understandable for many people.
But behind the coffee, the cookies, and the speaker's rounds, there was, of course, a very serious mission: to make Swedish parliamentarism work. Since then, Swedish politics has hardly become any less complicated.
During Andreas Norlén's time as Speaker, our country and our Riksdag have been faced with government crises, a pandemic, war in Europe, Sweden's entry into Nato, and recurring difficult parliamentary situations. The Speaker's task in such situations is not to make politics easy. The task is to ensure that our democratic institutions function even when politics is difficult.
Andreas Norlén has, during his years as Speaker, gathered an experience of precisely this that is unusual in modern Swedish parliamentary history. He has also shown a quality that is important for the one who holds this office: the ability to learn from experiences. For the office of Speaker, the position is greater than the person, and the mandate as Speaker is greater than the party designation under which one was once elected to the Riksdag.
When Andreas Norlén was re-elected in 2022, it occurred by acclamation. The entire chamber could then unite around him as Speaker.
Eight years as Speaker naturally means that not every decision or statement has been uncontested. That would be almost strange in an office that during these years has several times stood in the middle of some of Swedish politics' most difficult situations.
But today, the Riksdag has the opportunity to judge Andreas Norlén based on something that few candidates for this office have ever been able to demonstrate: eight years of concrete experience of bearing the responsibility, deep knowledge of the Riksdag and our parliamentary system, experience, continuity, and the stability that comes from already having been tested – not only when the work has been easy but when Swedish politics has been at its most difficult.
In times of political uncertainty, the Speaker's task is not to create drama but to create order, predictability, and confidence in the institutions that uphold our democracy. Andreas Norlén has shown that he can bear that responsibility. It is that deed that the chamber has to take a stand on today.
Mr. Speaker! I move that the election be conducted with secret ballots.
Lena Hallengren (S)
Mr. Speaker and dear members of Parliament! The Swedish people have voted out the Tidö cooperation, and Ulf Kristersson has resigned as Prime Minister. It would therefore be natural to mark, through the election of a new Speaker today, that Sweden has chosen a new direction. It would also be in line with the principles and practice of the Riksdag. In normal cases, the Speaker has been appointed from the Riksdag's largest party or from the largest party in the Riksdag's largest party constellation. This has created a clear connection, where the party that is largest in the government also holds the office of Speaker. It is an order that has served Sweden well and which has also created both understanding and respect among the general public.
Unfortunately, Vänsterpartiet gave the announcement yesterday that they will not support the Socialdemokraternas speaker candidate but instead the Moderaternas speaker candidate Andreas Norlén. This means that Vänsterpartiet is choosing a path that gives influence and power to the constellation that the Swedish people voted out. This is a political game that I believe is incomprehensible to the vast majority. It is also, of course, a betrayal of all those voters who voted for change.
We Social Democrats said during the election campaign that it is time to take Sweden seriously. We will, of course, also present our Speaker candidate regardless of the Left Party's announcement. It must clearly appear in the parliamentary records that it was the Left Party's decision to vote for the Tidö parties' Speaker candidate.
Against that background, we nominate Social Democrat Johanna Haraldsson as Speaker of the Riksdag. She is an experienced politician who has been a regular member of the Swedish Riksdag since 2014. She comes from Vetlanda, has a background as a trade union representative for IF Metall, and has solid experience of the political craft in the Riksdag. She is orderly, solution-oriented, and widely respected for her way of bringing together people with different backgrounds and perspectives. We Social Democrats believe that Johanna Haraldsson is the most suitable candidate to represent Sweden and the Swedish Riksdag.
Daniel Bäckström (C)
Mr. Speaker! Honored members of the Swedish Riksdag! Yes, it has long been a tradition that the Speaker comes from the Riksdag's largest party. The one who is to lead the Riksdag's work has important tasks for our democracy. Not least in the restless world we live in, it is important with a unifying force that has great respect among a broad majority in the Swedish Riksdag.
On behalf of the Centre Party's parliamentary group, I want to give active support to the Social Democrats' nomination of Johanna Haraldsson as Speaker.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Mr. Speaker! Now that the new Riksdag convenes, we do so with an election result that has given us a red-green majority. The Swedish people have voted for change and a new direction. They have voted no to Tidö.
We in Miljöpartiet went to the election to carry out a just climate transition and build together a Sweden that has been torn apart by divisions, growing poverty, and xenophobia. We have received a clear mandate from the voters to reduce emissions, strengthen equality and welfare, stop the unreasonable deportations of teenagers, and invest in welfare across the entire country.
We thus have a red-green majority in the Swedish Riksdag, and the voters have said that a new government is needed that can take the country in a new direction. That the Left Party has now declared that one votes for a Moderate Speaker does not facilitate that work, but actually makes us further from getting a red-green government in place. It is unfortunate, because we are in a hurry. We are in a climate emergency. Emissions must be reduced significantly and quickly.
With every passing day, the time and opportunities for the next government to implement the large and important reforms that Sweden needs are decreasing.
Even before we had gathered in the new Riksdag, I was reminded by many citizens who contacted me and said: Surely you will see to it that those young people whose so-called teenage deportations have not been paused or stopped at all actually get to stay now? We in Miljöpartiet will continue to do everything we can to ensure that we succeed with this as soon as possible and that a red-green government is established as soon as possible.
After the election, we have continued to work constructively so that our four parties can sit down together and build the political projects for the coming four years. We have consistently worked so that the government that takes office will also be a red-green majority government that has the muscles to not only reach agreements but also push through its policies in the Riksdag.
In the election of the Speaker, there is a practice for how we vote which implies that the Speaker's post should go to the largest party, i.e., the Social Democrats. Therefore, we stand behind the Social Democrats' nomination. I believe that even many voters today share our great disappointment that the Left Party instead has made a deal with the Moderates and Tidö on a central issue that will affect the formation of the government and the conditions for quickly establishing the red-green government that the voters desired in the election and which can take on the great challenges that our country needs to take responsibility for.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.