| Country: | Sweden |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1982 Swedish general election |
| Previous Year: | 1982 |
| Next Election: | 1988 Swedish general election |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
| Seats For Election: | All 349 seats in the Riksdag |
| Majority Seats: | 175 |
| Election Date: | 15 September 1985 |
| Image1: | (Olof Palme) Felipe González ofrece una rueda de prensa junto al primer ministro de Suecia. Pool Moncloa. 28 de septiembre de 1984 (cropped).jpeg |
| Leader1: | Olof Palme |
| Party1: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
| Last Election1: | 166 |
| Seats1: | 159 |
| Seat Change1: | 7 |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,487,551 |
| Percentage1: | 44.68% |
| Swing1: | 0.93 pp |
| Leader2: | Ulf Adelsohn |
| Party2: | Moderate Party |
| Last Election2: | 86 |
| Seats2: | 76 |
| Seat Change2: | 10 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,187,335 |
| Percentage2: | 21.33% |
| Swing2: | 2.31 pp |
| Image3: | Bengt Westerberg2.jpg |
| Leader3: | Bengt Westerberg |
| Party3: | People's Party (Sweden) |
| Last Election3: | 21 |
| Seats3: | 51 |
| Seat Change3: | 30 |
| Popular Vote3: | 792,268 |
| Percentage3: | 14.23% |
| Swing3: | 8.33 pp |
| Image4: | Falldin.JPG |
| Leader4: | Thorbjörn Fälldin |
| Party4: | Centre Party (Sweden) |
| Last Election4: | 56 |
| Seats4: | 43 |
| Seat Change4: | 13 |
| Popular Vote4: | 490,999 |
| Percentage4: | 8.82% |
| Swing4: | 6.46 pp |
| Image5: | Bundesarchiv Bild 183-N0701-023, Berlin, Erich Honecker, Lars Werner cropped.jpg |
| Leader5: | Lars Werner |
| Party5: | Left Party - Communists |
| Last Election5: | 20 |
| Seats5: | 19 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 298,419 |
| Percentage5: | 5.36% |
| Swing5: | 0.20 pp |
| Image6: | Alf Svensson 2003-08-25 001 (cropped).jpg |
| Leader6: | Alf Svensson |
| Party6: | Christian Democrats (Sweden) |
| Last Election6: | 0 |
| Seats6: | 1 |
| Seat Change6: | 1 |
| Popular Vote6: | 131,548 |
| Percentage6: | 2.36% |
| Swing6: | 0.49 pp |
| PM | |
| Before Election: | Olof Palme |
| Before Party: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
| After Election: | Olof Palme |
| After Party: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
General elections were held in Sweden on 15 September 1985.[1] The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 159 of the 349 seats.[2] Its leader, Olof Palme, kept his position as prime minister. He would retain this position successfully until his assassination in 1986.
At a campaign meeting in Sundsvall on 22 August, Minister of Social Welfare Sten Andersson promised to increase the state pensions as a compensation for the price increases following the devaluation of the krona in 1982. The Social Democrat (Socialdemokraterna) government also stressed that it had managed to decrease the budget deficit from 90 billion to 60 billion kronas. The Social Democrats also promised not to increase taxes or lower the quality of the welfare system.
The Centre Party had a technical cooperation with the Christian Democrats. The Christian Democrats always received fewer votes than the 4% threshold for gaining seats to the Riksdag. The cooperation was criticized within the Centre Party. The aim was for both parties to gain votes, but in the end the Centre Party's share of the votes decreased in comparison to the previous election in 1982. The Christian Democrats only gained one seat in parliament for its leader, Alf Svensson.
The political debate was dominated by the Moderate Party and the Social Democrats. In January 1985, the Moderate Party had proposed in parliament a detailed plan with tax cuts and cuts in spending. The Social Democrats' leader Olof Palme managed to turn this against the Moderate Party by repeating the negative effects this would have on junior soccer teams. The Moderate Party was supported by 30 percent in an opinion poll by SIFO in June 1985, but its support decreased during the campaign.
The Liberal People's Party had chosen Bengt Westerberg as its party leader in October 1983; he had had trouble getting his message through, not least because of the party's small size in parliament and its only receiving 5.9 percent support in the 1982 election. However, in August Westerberg became viewed by the public as a calm and honest politician, in comparison to the constantly arguing Adelsohn and Palme. The Liberal People's Party was the big winner of the 1985 election, increasing its support to 14.2 percent.
| 1985 Swedish general election debates | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | Organisers | Moderators | Present Invitee Non-invitee | ||||||
| S | M | C | L | V | Refs | |||||
| 28 August 1985 | P Olof Palme | P Ulf Adelsohn | N Thorbjörn Fälldin | N Ola Ullsten | N Lars Werner | |||||
| 13 September 1985 | Sveriges Television | Ingemar Odlander | P | P Ulf Adelsohn | P Thorbjörn Fälldin | P Bengt Westerberg | P Lars Werner | [3] | ||
See main article: Results of the 1985 Swedish general election.
The Centre Party and Christian Democratic Unity (CDU) ran a joint list in some constituencies under the name "Centre".[4] One CDU candidate was elected on the Centre list, the first time the party had had parliamentary representation.[2]
| Constituency | Total seats | Seats won | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By party | By coalition | ||||||||||
| S | M | F | C | V | KDS | ||||||
| Älvsborg North | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| Älvsborg South | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Blekinge | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Bohus | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||||
| Fyrstadskretsen | 20 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | |||
| Gävleborg | 13 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | |||
| Gothenburg | 18 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | |||
| Gotland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Halland | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| Jämtland | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| Jönköping | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | |||
| Kalmar | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Kopparberg | 12 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||
| Kristianstad | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||||
| Kronoberg | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Malmöhus | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||||
| Norrbotten | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | |||
| Örebro | 12 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||
| Östergötland | 16 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 | |||
| Skaraborg | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Södermanland | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | ||||
| Stockholm County | 36 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 19 | |||
| Stockholm Municipality | 29 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 15 | |||
| Uppsala | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | |||
| Värmland | 12 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||
| Västerbotten | 11 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | |||
| Västernorrland | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | |||
| Västmanland | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | |||
| Total | 349 | 159 | 76 | 51 | 43 | 19 | 1 | 178 | 171 | ||
| Source: Statistics Sweden | |||||||||||