Centre Party

The Centre Party was formed in 1910 and has its roots in the farmers' movement in rural areas. According to the party's own history, it tabled the first environmental motion in the Riksdag and was the first Riksdag party with a woman as party leader. Since then the party has had five female party leaders (Centre Party).

The party's highest voter support in the period covered by the table was reached in 1973, with 25.1 percent and 90 seats. During the 1980s and 1990s support declined, and in 1998 the party received 5.1 percent, the lowest result in the table. Since then support has been between just over 6 and just under 9 percent.

Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist was elected party leader on 13 November 2025 and succeeded Anna-Karin Hatt (riksdagen.se). In the 2026 election the party increased from 6.7 to 7.03 percent.

The party's programme of principles from 2013 describes a liberalism that, according to the text, "is down to earth and freedom-oriented" and is based on fairness and sustainability. The programme addresses freedom, equal opportunities, decentralisation, self-ownership, circular thinking, openness and gender equality as core ideas.

The 2026 election manifesto is titled "Sverige kan mer." (Sweden can do more) and opens with the words "Sweden is not finished. Sweden can do more." There the party describes a Sweden with more jobs, lower emissions, a welfare system that works in everyday life and greater security.

The manifesto contains ten election pledges: more jobs, more people being able to afford more, lower emissions, accessible healthcare, a school where every child can succeed, better mental health, breaking gang recruitment, a society that works across the whole country, power from the state to the individual, Swedish food and preparedness, and responsibility for freedom and security in Europe.

The Centre Party wants to lower the tax on work, mainly for low incomes, and proposes a new earned income tax credit for low and middle income earners as well as halving the VAT on food. The party also wants to slow grid fees, pause capacity charges and lower the electricity tax, strengthen the Swedish Competition Authority and set up a regulatory simplification agency that would abolish or reform at least 100 rules. Financing according to the budget motion for 2026: among other things a new model for unemployment insurance, an abolished two-child supplement, a halved multiple-child supplement from the third child, scrapped interest deductions for fossil-fuel car loans, higher cigarette tax and a broadened congestion tax.

The party says that it "can create 150,000 new jobs" with its reforms. It wants to remove the part of the employer contribution that the party calls an employment tax, for young people, for entry-level wages, for the long-term unemployed and for the first ten employees in growing companies. The party also proposes simplified jobs, high-cost protection for sick pay in small businesses, an apprenticeship system with a tutor deduction, more places in higher vocational education and a transition study grant that the party calls a knowledge exchange. For labour migration the party wants to remove the high salary floor and let the social partners decide. Working time and the qualifying day for sick pay should, according to the party, be handled by the social partners. The budget motion states costs of just over SEK 10 billion for reduced contributions for young people and entry-level wages.

The Centre Party wants "double penalties for those who recruit children into crime" and says no to lowering the age of criminal responsibility. The party wants more visible police officers, police offices or local police hubs in all 290 municipalities and a higher clearance rate. It also proposes permanently faster prosecution, a fast track for crimes against small business owners, a national centre for crime prevention, harsher penalties for interference in legal proceedings and perjury, and greater use of electronic ankle monitors. The party says that penalties should be tightened where it makes a difference and that measures should be evaluated. In the budget motion the party allocates funds to police officers in frontline duty and a new authority for economic crime.

The party wants to replace SFI (Swedish for immigrants) with job Swedish and introduce a mandatory fresh start year, with lower benefits for those who do not complete it. According to the party, benefits should be conditional on taking part in Swedish classes, being available to the labour market and letting the children attend school. The party wants to stop deportations of people who work and behave well and of teenagers who grew up in Sweden, but to deport those who have committed crimes or received a rejection more quickly. It wants to prioritise quota refugees, in the budget motion 5,000 per year, introduce time limits for processing and strengthen Frontex with requirements for legal certainty. In the budget motion, integration measures are financed with money that the government had set aside for an increased repatriation grant.

The party wants "a Sweden that retakes the lead in the climate transition". It proposes an electric car premium of 50,000 kronor or leasing of an electric car for 1,500 kronor a month, an expansion of electricity production and a technology-neutral energy agreement. The party wants to halve permitting times under the Environmental Code and lead times for the electricity grid, auction off areas for offshore wind, give municipalities and local communities a share of the value from hydropower and wind power, and pay for system benefits from, among other things, batteries, hydropower and nuclear power. The budget motion allocates SEK 7.9 billion to the climate, and the party states that emissions would then fall by more than 8 million tonnes by 2030.

The Centre Party wants everyone to have a regular doctor contact and be able to reach the health centre on the same day. According to the party, patients should be able to seek specialist care anywhere in the country via 1177, and the state should take responsibility for healthcare staffing. The party wants to put more resources into young people's mental health, student health services and psychiatry, reduce administration and stop disreputable providers. For older people the party proposes a right to choose whether a man or a woman provides personal care, a food boost and dental care support. In the budget motion the party allocates SEK 2 billion to primary care and SEK 1 billion to more doctors and nurses in rural areas, partly financed by fewer so-called queue billions.

The party says that "in ten years all teachers should be qualified" and wants to introduce a national salary supplement for teachers in schools with few qualified teachers. It proposes universal preschool from age two, mandatory Swedish classes even during school breaks, a reformed compulsory schooling with holiday school and intensive support, smaller classes and a pupil law under which support is given according to need and not according to diagnosis. The party also wants pupils to be able to take vocational programmes without full eligibility, and mentions neuropsychiatric-adapted schools and knowledge about AI. The budget motion allocates SEK 3 billion to rural schools, of which SEK 1 billion to teacher qualification.

This section sets out what government agencies and state councils have said about the party's proposals or about the same type of proposal, in the agency's own words or a close summary, both when they support and when they oppose. Parties that have been in government often receive more consultation responses, because their proposals have become inquiries and government bills, so a difference in quantity is not a judgement.

The Centre Party's proposal to halve VAT on food is the same measure the government introduced temporarily from 1 April 2026. The Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV) advised against it and judged that a VAT cut is not cost-effective compared with support targeted at a particular group. The National Institute of Economic Research (KI) judged that it can strengthen household finances through lower food prices, but that the stimulus effect is limited and that a large share of the relief goes to households with higher incomes. On earned income tax credits as a type of proposal, the Fiscal Policy Council writes that further credits are costly because they affect employment only marginally. On lower electricity tax, the Climate Policy Council judges that a lower electricity price can to some extent stimulate electrification, but that the decision works against efficient energy use.

IFAU evaluated the 2007 cut in employer contributions for young people and found positive but relatively small effects, 6,000 to 10,000 new jobs in the short term, with lost revenue of SEK 1.0 to 1.6 million per job created. In autumn 2025 both IFAU and the National Institute of Economic Research (Konjunkturinstitutet) advised against a temporary cut for people aged 19 to 23, and IFAU wrote that research shows that in the end these are “expensive jobs” relative to the lost tax revenue. On reduced contributions for the first employees, IFAU in 2024 advised against extending the growth support (växa-stöd), noting that the support had never been systematically evaluated and that take-up had been low. On the salary requirement for work permits, a proposal type and not the party's own proposal, the Swedish Migration Agency in 2024 had no objection to basing the requirement on the median wage but took no position on the amount.

On the type of proposal for tougher penalties for recruiting children into crime: on 1 September 2026 Brå (the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention) advised against the government's memorandum on an aggravated offence of involving minors in crime and wrote that the current offence should first be evaluated, while the Swedish Police Authority was positive to the proposal. On a lower age of criminal responsibility, which the party opposes: on 12 March 2026 the Council on Legislation advised against the proposal to lower the age to 13 for certain crimes and wrote that the proposal cannot be expected to meet the aim of addressing youth crime. Brå has advised against both lowering the age to 14 and lowering it to 13. We have not found any statement by a public authority on the party's other proposals, such as police offices in every municipality or a fast track for crimes against small businesses.

The Centre Party wants to use the money the government has set aside for a higher re-emigration grant for integration instead. On the higher re-emigration grant, the Delegation for Migration Studies (Delmi) advised against the proposal on 22 August 2025 and wrote that there is no scientific support for higher grants successfully increasing re-emigration. The Swedish National Financial Management Authority found it difficult to judge whether the grant would lead to more voluntary re-emigration, while the Swedish Migration Agency made no comments on the proposal itself but saw an increased risk of fraud. We have not found any agency statement on job-focused Swedish replacing SFI or on a mandatory fresh-start year.

In 2020 the Swedish National Audit Office found that the then broad climate bonus for electric cars cost roughly five times more per kilo of carbon dioxide reduced than the carbon tax, and that the policy instruments for green cars especially favoured company car drivers. The Swedish Climate Policy Council writes in its report of 19 March 2026 that the abolition of the broad electric car bonus has led to fewer electric cars being sold. The Council considers that an auction-based system for offshore wind power can improve the conditions for investment, and recommends revenue sharing with local residents and a broad energy agreement in the Riksdag. The statements concern the type of proposal and not the party's proposal.

On a named regular doctor: Vårdanalys reported on 31 March 2026 that the share who say they have a regular doctor rose from 26 per cent in 2024 to 31 per cent in 2025, while nearly six in ten say they need one. The agency writes that access varies between regions and links this to a shortage of doctors in primary care. On state responsibility for staffing and skills supply, Socialstyrelsen wrote on 21 October 2025 that it is hard to take a position since it is unclear what wider responsibility would mean, but that it is positive to a clear supporting role for the state.

We have not found any statement by a public authority on the Centre Party's proposal for a national salary supplement for teachers at schools with few qualified teachers, or on universal preschool from the age of two. On the proposal type, state-funded salary supplements for teachers, IFAU has evaluated the career-step reform for lead teachers. IFAU found that schools with lead teachers had lower staff turnover, slightly more experienced and qualified teachers and, to some extent, better results in the national tests in years 3 and 6. That reform was aimed at highly skilled teachers rather than specifically at schools with few qualified teachers.