1982 Swedish general election

General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 1982.^[1] They saw the return of the Swedish Social Democratic Party to power after six years in opposition,^[2] the longest period in opposition by the Social Democrats since the 1910s. The center-right coalition of Thorbjörn Fälldin had earlier suffered a loss upon the breakup of the government in 1981, the year before the election, when the rightist Moderate Party chose to withdraw from the government, protesting against the centrist tax policies of the Fälldin government. After regaining power, Social Democratic leader Olof Palme succeeded in being elected Prime Minister again, having earlier held power between 1969 and 1976.

1982 Swedish general election

← 1979 19 September 1982 1985 →
All 349 seats in the Riksdag 175 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Olof Palme Ulf Adelsohn Thorbjörn Fälldin Party Social Democrats Moderate Centre Last election 154 73 64 Seats won 166 86 56 Seat change 12 13 8 Popular vote 2,533,250 1,313,337 859,618 Percentage 45.61% 23.64% 15.48% Swing 2.37 pp 3.30 pp 2.59 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Ola Ullsten Lars Werner Party People's Party Left Communists Last election 38 20 Seats won 21 20 Seat change 17 Popular vote 327,770 308,899 Percentage 5.90% 5.56% Swing 4.69 pp 0.05 pp
Map of the election, showing the distribution of constituency and levelling seats, as well as the largest political bloc within each constituency.
PM before election Thorbjörn Fälldin Centre Elected PM Olof Palme Social Democrats

The 2,533,250 votes for the Social Democrats is, in spite of a larger electorate, as of 2022 the highest number of people voting for a single party in Swedish electoral history, although the party had previously recorded higher percentage shares.

Election campaign

The campaign running up to the 1982 elections can be characterized as orderly, with few unexpected problems and no scandals making it to the media.^[2] Similarly to previous elections, coverage focused heavily on party-leaders, with the debate between the Social Democratic leader Olof Palme, and the prime minister, Thorbjörn Fälldin televised in full length. However, grassroots activism played a more substantial role then before: parties engaged more in door-to-door canvassing, and candidates were more available to the public for 'street corner meetings'. Economic issues dominated the campaign, with all parties aiming to address the effects of the economic downturn and low growth in the country, partially caused by the oil crisis.^[2] It also became evident that the further expansion of the public sector is not sustainable. While tensions where clearly visible within the governing parties, the main dividing line was clearly between the Social Democrats and the 'bourgeois bloc" (Moderate Party, People's Party and Centre Party). The latter (with the backing of the Swedish Employers' Confederation)^[3][4] focused their attack on the wage-earner funds proposal by the Social Democrats, stating that the implementation thereof would in effect destroy the market economy, and turn Sweden into a socialist society.^[2] Instead, their porposals contained contractionary policies, and reductions in public expenditure. The Social Democrats in turn blamed the economic hardships on the previous governments' incapability, criticized them for partly dismantling the traditional Swedish welfare system, and proposed expansion and new investments to revive the economy.^[2]

Debates

1982 Swedish general election debates
Date	Time	Organizers	Moderators	P  Present    I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee
				S	M	C	L	V	Refs
		Sveriges Television	Lars Orup [sv]	P Olof Palme, Kjell-Olof Feldt	P Ulf Adelsohn	P Thorbjörn Fälldin	P Ola Ullsten	P Lars Werner	[5]

Results

Main article: Results of the 1982 Swedish general election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Swedish Social Democratic Party	2,533,250	45.61	166	+12
	Moderate Party	1,313,337	23.64	86	+13
	Centre Party	859,618	15.48	56	−8
	People's Party	327,770	5.90	21	−17
	Left Party Communists	308,899	5.56	20	0
	Christian Democratic Unity	103,820	1.87	0	0
	Green Party	91,787	1.65	0	New
	Workers Party Communists	5,745	0.10	0	0
	Other parties	10,376	0.19	0	0
Total		5,554,602	100.00	349	0
Valid votes		5,554,602	99.07
Invalid/blank votes		52,001	0.93
Total votes		5,606,603	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,130,993	91.45
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		By party						By coalition
		S	M	C	F	V		Left	Right
Älvsborg North	10	5	2	2	1			5	5
Älvsborg South	7	3	2	2				3	4
Blekinge	6	4	1	1				4	2
Bohus	10	4	3	2	1			4	6
Fyrstadskretsen	19	9	6	2	1	1		10	9
Gävleborg	12	7	2	2		1		8	4
Gothenburg	18	8	5	1	2	2		10	8
Gotland	2	1		1				1	1
Halland	10	4	3	2	1			4	6
Jämtland	5	3	1	1				3	2
Jönköping	13	6	3	3	1			6	7
Kalmar	9	5	2	2				5	4
Kopparberg	12	6	2	3		1		7	5
Kristianstad	11	5	3	2	1			5	6
Kronoberg	7	3	2	2				3	4
Malmöhus	13	6	4	2	1			6	7
Norrbotten	10	7	1	1		1		8	2
Örebro	12	6	2	2	1	1		7	5
Östergötland	17	8	4	3	1	1		9	8
Skaraborg	12	5	3	3	1			5	7
Södermanland	11	6	2	2	1			6	5
Stockholm County	34	14	12	3	2	3		17	17
Stockholm Municipality	31	12	11	2	2	4		16	15
Uppsala	11	5	2	2	1	1		6	5
Värmland	13	6	3	2	1	1		7	6
Västerbotten	10	5	1	2	1	1		6	4
Västernorrland	13	7	2	3		1		8	5
Västmanland	11	6	2	1	1	1		7	4
Total	349	166	86	56	21	20		186	163
Source: Statistics Sweden

By municipality

• 
  Votes by municipality. The municipalities are the color of the party that got the most votes within the coalition that won relative majority.
• 
  Cartogram of the map to the left with each municipality rescaled to the number of valid votes cast.
• 
  Map showing the voting shifts from the 1979 to the 1982 election. Darker blue indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that formed the centre-right bloc. Darker red indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that form the left-wing bloc.
• 
  Votes by municipality as a scale from red/Left-wing bloc to blue/Centre-right bloc.
• 
  Cartogram of vote with each municipality rescaled in proportion to number of valid votes cast. Deeper blue represents a relative majority for the centre-right coalition, brighter red represents a relative majority for the left-wing coalition.

After the election

A central economic issue surrounding the 1982 election was the Social Democratic Party’s proposed economic stabilization strategy, which combined a large currency devaluation with wage restraint and industrial competitiveness policies. Shortly after returning to office, the government of Olof Palme implemented a 16 percent devaluation of the Swedish krona, arguing that the measure was necessary to restore export competitiveness after years of declining industrial productivity.^[6] Economists described the policy as a shift from demand-side management toward a supply-side export-led strategy, aimed at reducing the persistent current-account deficits of the late 1970s and early 1980s.^[7] The devaluation formed part of a broader “Third Way” approach in which the state sought to promote industrial restructuring through cooperation between employers, unions, and the government, while avoiding severe cuts to the welfare state.^[8] Although the policy was controversial, especially among critics who argued that it risked fueling inflation, scholars note that it played a significant role in stabilizing export industries and shaping Sweden’s economic trajectory during the 1980s.^[9]