Die Reichstagswahl 2006 – Eine Z sur in der schwedischen Parteiengeschichte

Sweden is the social democratic model in Europe. Despite good economic conditions, the social democratic minority government under the leadership of G ran Persson lost the election on 17th September 2006. Since then, a four party coalition headed by the conservative Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is governing Sweden. In this contribution the electoral campaign as well as the electoral result is analysed. It will be shown that there occurred a paradigm shift in Swedish party history. A majority government has managed to overcome the programmatic differences in the bourgeois camp. It is further argued that the new government will hardly change the Swedish model at once. However, small but decisive reform steps will alter the contours of the Swedish welfare state and will make it more similar to welfare states in Continental Europe.