The Social Democrats’ line on the speaker question has always been that the largest party appoints the speaker. Point.
Instead, the moderates have always claimed that it should be the largest party in a government constellation. It is now the Sweden Democrats.
If they stick to that principle, then it is SD who gets to appoint the speaker.
Björn Söder, who was previously second deputy speaker, would then be able to return to the finest chair.
Was voted out
In the last election, SD was eligible for the post of second deputy speaker, but in the 2018 vote, the members voted Söder out in favor of the leftist Lotta Johnsson Fornarve. Söder also lost the vote for third deputy speaker, then to Kerstin Lundgren (C).
The votes in the Speaker’s election take place with closed ballots; no one knows who is voting for whom, so the party whip strikes blindly.
Even if M, KD and L started a collaboration with SD, it is not quite as likely that all members would allow Björn Söder to become Speaker of Sweden’s Riksdag. It is the highest political position that one can be elected to in Sweden. Only the king as head of state has a higher rank.
Björn Söder has previously caused a great stir through various statements, the most attention he received when he tried to explain why Sami and Jews are not Swedes.
Prestigious premises
Other changes that may take place as a result of SD’s successes are that the party will be given the post of chairman in several committees. They are not distributed based on any strict rules in the Riksdag order, but are decided in settlements between the parties.
A certain proportionality in the distribution can usually be discerned, but so far with the exception of SD. During the current term, they did not hold the chairman’s baton in any committee. Each committee formally appoints its chairman.
A less significant but still prestigious change that can take place is a change of premises.
As the two largest parties in the Riksdag, S and M have used the fine first and second chambers in the old Riksdag building as group meeting rooms.
Due to their size, the Moderates have so far resided in the spacious Skandia house from the 1880s on Mynttorget in Gamla Stan.
SD could now lay claim to both of these localities.
However, that is decided by the Riksdag chancellery and there they announce that they are sitting and working on relocations before the new mandate period. The decision rests with the Riksdag Chancellery and not with the parties.
“There are an extremely large number of parameters,” says an official at the chancellery, and adds that the parties can always swap with each other.