Thorbjörn Fälldin (born 24 April 1926) is a Swedish politician.[1] He was Prime Minister of Sweden in three non-consecutive cabinets from 1976 to 1982, and leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 1971 to 1985.[1] On his first appointment in 1976, he was the first non-Social Democrat Prime Minister for forty years and the first since the 1930s not to have worked as a professional politician since his teens.
Thorbjörn Fälldin
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| Prime Minister of Sweden | |
| In office 8 October 1976 – 18 October 1978 | |
| Monarch | Carl XVI Gustaf |
| Deputy | Per Ahlmark (1976–1978) Ingemar Mundebo (1978) |
| Preceded by | Olof Palme |
| Succeeded by | Ola Ullsten |
| In office 12 October 1979 – 2 October 1982 | |
| Deputy | Ingemar Mundebo (1979–1980) Ola Ullsten (1980–1982) |
| Preceded by | Ola Ullsten |
| Succeeded by | Olof Palme |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1926-04-24) 24 April 1926 (age 98) Högsjö, Härnösand Ångermanland |
| Political party | Centre Party |
| Spouse | Solveig Fälldin |
| Profession | Farmer |
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Fälldin grew up in a farming family in Ångermanland,[1] and in 1956 he and his wife, as a newlywed young couple, took over a small farm. However, the farming authorities did not approve the purchase, as the farm was regarded too small and too run down, and so refused to provide the usual farm subsidies. Fälldin felt deeply humiliated by that treatment and fought the authorities all the way.
This fight led him into the youth branch of the Swedish Agrarian party Bondeförbundet, which in 1958 changed its name to Centerpartiet (the Centre Party). He and his family maintained their farm throughout his political life, and when he resigned from politics in 1985 he immediately returned to it.
Fälldin entered the Swedish national political stage when he was elected to the Swedish Riksdag in 1958 for the agrarian-rooted Centre Party. In competition with Johannes Antonsson, he became vice-chairman of the party in 1969, and then chairman in 1971, succeeding veteran Gunnar Hedlund.
In 1973 Fälldin proposed that the party should merge with the Liberal Party, but he failed to gain the support of a majority of party members.
In the 1976 election, the Social Democrats sensationally lost their majority for the first time in 40 years. The non-Socialist parties (the Centre Party, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Moderate Party) formed a coalition government, and as the Centre Party was the largest of the three, Fälldin was appointed Prime Minister. Two years later, however, the coalition fell apart over the issue of Swedish dependency on nuclear power (with the Centre Party taking a strong anti-nuclear stand), which led to Fälldin's resignation and the formation of a minority Liberal Party government.
Following the 1979 election, Fälldin regained the post of Prime Minister, and he again formed a coalition government with the Liberals and the Moderates. This cabinet also lasted for two years, when disagreement over tax policies compelled the Moderates to leave the coalition. Fälldin continued as Prime Minister until the election in 1982, when the Social Democrats regained majority.
After a second election defeat in 1985 Fälldin resigned as party leader and politician, after facing massive criticism from his party, and returned to his farm. His honorary posts since that time have included chairman of Föreningsbanken and Televerket.
During his 27 years as a national politician Fälldin was generally appreciated in most political camps for his straightforwardness, unpretentiousness and willingness to listen to all views. His two periods as Prime Minister were far from easy; trying to get three very different parties to work together in a coalition, while Sweden underwent its worst recession since the 1930s and the Social Democrats were furious over having lost the power that they, after 40 years, had come to regard as self-evidently theirs.
Fälldin refused to allow security concerns to rule his life. During his years as Prime Minister, he lived on his own in a small rented apartment in central Stockholm, while his family ran the farm up in northern Sweden. He did his own cooking and carried out the garbage in the morning to the communal dustbins in the backyard, before taking a brisk 15 minute walk to his office, shadowed at a distance by an unmarked police car which had been waiting outside the apartment block - his only concession to the security concerns.[citation needed]
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Sweden 1976–1978 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Sweden 1979–1982 |
Succeeded by |