Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden

Kingdom of Sweden

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Sweden

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The Swedish constitution allows the Prime Minister to appoint one of the Ministers in the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister (biträdande statsminister, sometimes unofficially known as vice statsminister, Vice Prime Minister), in case the Prime Minister for some reason is prevented from performing his or her duties. However, if a Deputy Prime Minister has not been appointed, the Minister in the cabinet who has served the longest time (and if there are several with equal experience the one who is oldest) takes over as head of government (these are marked in italic in the table below).

The role and position of a Deputy Prime Minister may vary. In the three last coalition governments, Fälldin III, Bildt and Reinfeldt, the Deputy Prime Minister was the head of the second-largest coalition partner (Liberals in Fälldin III and Bildt, Centre in Reinfeldt). In the governments Fälldin I and II, however, the Deputy Prime Ministership belonged to the Liberal Party despite the fact that it was the smallest of the three members. The reason for this might be ascribed to an unwillingness on behalf of the Centre and Liberals to give this position to the Moderates, due to ideological differences. In all of these governments, however, the Deputy Prime Minister also had a regular Cabinet portfolio.

The situation is different in the one-party governments that have existed since the position of Deputy Prime Minister was introduced in 1976, namely the Liberal Ullsten government and the Social Democratic governments Palme II, Carlsson I-III and Persson. While Mona Sahlin might well have been described as something of a "successor-in-waiting" (even if she ultimately did not succeed Ingvar Carlsson to the Prime Ministership), the other Deputy Prime Ministers have tended to be older and experienced politicians who have often been in charge of coordinating the work of the Government and may also have been in charge of some policy areas of their own which were not substantial enough to warrant a full-time Cabinet position, such as Bo Ringholm, who was Minister of Sport concurrently with being Deputy Prime Minister.

Historically, under the 1809 Instrument of Government the Minister of Foreign Affairs (the "second excellency" and to date the only formal "minister" save for the Prime Minister, the other cabinet members' formal title being Councillor of State for... etc) was to act as acting Prime Minister should he be able not to perform his duties. With the enactment of the 1974 Instrument of Government and the inauguration of Thorbjörn Fälldin's three-party cabinet in 1976, Per Ahlmark was formally sworn in as the first to hold the office.

List of officeholders

Color key

      Independent       Social Democrats       Moderate Party       Centre Party       Left Party       Liberal Party       Christian Democrats       Green Party       Sweden Democrats

	Deputy Prime Minister	Took office	Left office	Party	Prime Minister(s)	Cabinet(s)	Ref
	Ahlmark, PerPer Ahlmark	01976-10-08 8 October 1976	01978-03-07 7 March 1978	Liberal Party	Fälldin, ThorbjörnThorbjörn Fälldin	Fälldin I
	Ullsten, OlaOla Ullsten	01978-03-07 7 March 1978	01978-10-18 18 October 1978	Liberal Party	Fälldin, ThorbjörnThorbjörn Fälldin	Fälldin I
	Romanus, SvenSven Romanus (acting)	01978-10-18 18 October 1978	01979-10-12 12 October 1979	Independent	Ullsten, OlaOla Ullsten	Ullsten
	Mundebo, IngemarIngemar Mundebo (acting)	01979-10-12 12 October 1979	01980-07-31 31 July 1980	Liberal Party	Fälldin, ThorbjörnThorbjörn Fälldin	Fälldin II
	Ullsten, OlaOla Ullsten	01980-08-01 1 August 1980	01982-10-08 8 October 1982	Liberal Party	Fälldin, ThorbjörnThorbjörn Fälldin	Fälldin II Fälldin III
	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	01982-10-08 8 October 1982	01986-02-28 28 February 1986	Social Democrats	Palme, OlofOlof Palme	Palme II
	Lundkvist, SvanteSvante Lundkvist (acting)	01986-02-28 28 February 1986	01986-10-09 9 October 1986	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	Carlsson I
	Feldt, Kjell-OlofKjell-Olof Feldt (acting)	01986-10-09 9 October 1986	01990-02-16 16 February 1990	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	Carlsson I
	Hjelm-Wallén, LenaLena Hjelm-Wallén (acting)	01990-02-16 16 February 1990	01990-02-27 27 February 1990	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	Carlsson I
	Engström, OddOdd Engström	01990-02-27 27 February 1990	01991-10-04 4 October 1991	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	Carlsson II
	Westerberg, BengtBengt Westerberg	01991-10-04 4 October 1991	01994-10-07 7 October 1994	Liberal Party	Bildt, CarlCarl Bildt	Bildt
	Sahlin, MonaMona Sahlin	01994-10-07 7 October 1994	01995-11-16 16 November 1995	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson	Carlsson III
	Hjelm-Wallén, LenaLena Hjelm-Wallén	01995-11-16 16 November 1995	02002-10-21 21 October 2002	Social Democrats	Carlsson, IngvarIngvar Carlsson Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Carlsson III Persson
	Winberg, MargaretaMargareta Winberg	02002-10-21 21 October 2002	02003-10-31 31 October 2003	Social Democrats	Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Persson
	Ulvskog, MaritaMarita Ulvskog (acting)	02003-10-31 31 October 2003	02004-06-01 1 June 2004	Social Democrats	Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Persson
	Engqvist, LarsLars Engqvist	02004-06-01 1 June 2004	02004-10-01 1 October 2004	Social Democrats	Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Persson
	Freivalds, LailaLaila Freivalds (acting)	02004-10-01 1 October 2004	02004-11-01 1 November 2004	Social Democrats	Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Persson
	Ringholm, BosseBosse Ringholm	02004-11-01 1 November 2004	02006-10-06 6 October 2006	Social Democrats	Persson, GöranGöran Persson	Persson
	Olofsson, MaudMaud Olofsson	02006-10-06 6 October 2006	02010-10-05 5 October 2010	Centre Party	Reinfeldt, FredrikFredrik Reinfeldt	Reinfeldt
	Björklund, JanJan Björklund	02010-10-05 5 October 2010	Incumbent	Liberal Party	Reinfeldt, FredrikFredrik Reinfeldt	Reinfeldt