Swedish prime ministers - Tage Erlander is the survivor!

[Gustaf]

Olof Palme, my reasoning can be seen further up.

[Nhoj]

Olof Palme

[politicus]

Result of round 15:

Palme eliminated 4-0

Round 16:

My vote:

Per Albin Hansson

Founder of the Swedish "Folkhem" (universal welfare model) and the most influential PM Sweden has ever had, so this is mainly a moral choice. He supported eugenics, accepted German troop transports through Swedish territory during WW2 and expelled Baltic refugees to the Soviets afterwards, knowing many would end up i Gulag camps (or worse).

(Keeping Swedish neutrality was obviously a smart move (and it saved the lives of Danish Jews), but he went to far trying to please the Germans IMO.)

 

[Senator Napoleon]

Hansson

[Gustaf]

Depending on one's moral values one might also object to the guy having two families, one with his wife and one with his mistress.

On the other hand, I don't get the love for de Geer here so I'll vote for him.

[politicus]

Depending on one's moral values one might also object to the guy having two families, one with his wife and one with his mistress.
On the other hand, I don't get the love for de Geer here so I'll vote for him.

One obvious reason could be, that the link I provided in the OP is very positive towards him.
What was wrong with de Geer IYO?

I don't have the in depth knowledge of Swedish 19th century history to fully evaluate de Geer, (and I doubt any of the rest of the voters have it). But liberal economic reforms, implementing a modern constitution in 1865, freedom of religion, improved inheritance rights for women and record breaking economic growth all sounds good. He also tried to have the death penalty abolished, which was far ahead of his time. On top of that he was a poet. So he sounds like one of the good guys.

Like most of the (very few) Danes with any historical knowledge worth mentioning, I dislike him for the Ulriksdal-conference, but that can clearly be seen as a wise decision too.

[JulioMadrid]

Hansson

[Nhoj]

Per Albin Hansson

[Edu]

Per Albin Hansson

[politicus]

Result of round 15

Hansson 5
de Geer 1

Per Albin Hansson eliminated


Round 16, normal round, semi-finale

My vote: Karl Staaff

I like him the most, but I feel that a finale between Swedens two longest serving PMs Louis de Geer (17 years) and Tage Erlander (23 years) will be the right one. Compared to them Staaff was a short termer
Still there are plenty of reasons to keep Staaff in the finale.

- The peacefull dissolution of the union with Norway was unique at a time where no other country had ever been allowed to just walk away from its regent without a war.

- A general pension system is also an important achievement.

- Staaff was a true FF regarding the creation of real democracy and the interests of the common man.

Since I am a Staaff fan I am willing to change my vote, if Gustaf can convince me why de Geer was a HP.

[JulioMadrid]

Louis De Geer

[Nhoj]

Louis De Geer

[politicus]

Result of round 16

Louis de Geer 2
Karl Staaff 1

De Geer eliminated.

I was hoping for more votes in the semifinal, but apparently not, so lets move to the finale.

Karl Staaff vs. Tage Erlander

Now that you guys have secured his place in the finale, I wanna be a hack and say Staaff for survivor! But the opposition is formidable.

Erlander is called Swedens "longest PM" both because of his height and his 23 years in power, which is otherwise unheard of in a fully functioning democracy. The arch typical moderate hero, who dropped all elements of socialism from the party platform and secured broad consensus behind most of his policies. Pragmatic, smart and with a sense of self-irony that few politicians possess. Made the folkhem ideal a reality to a greater degree than anyone could have expected and consolidated his party's position as the natural governing party in Sweden.

[Californian Tony]

Erlander FTW !

[Nhoj]

Erlander FTW !

[JulioMadrid]

Erlander FTW !

[big bad fab]

If Gustaf, Edu and another one vote and follow me, it may succeed

Staaff FTW !

(in the first Swedish PMs survivor, Branting won !)

[Edu]

Staaf for survivor!
to make it interesting

[politicus]

Its a 3-3 tie at the moment. Four posters have voted here previously, but not in the final: Kalwejt, Batmacumba, Napoleon and Gustaf, so maybe one of them will return to break the tie.

Otherwise Ill count the number of times people have voted and attribute an equal number of points to their votes in this final.

[Insula Dei]

Is it to late for me to bumble in and break the tie in Erlander's favour?

[politicus]

Is it to late for me to bumble in and break the tie in Erlander's favour?

No, that fine.

[politicus]

With a narrow 4-3 victory Tage Erlander is the survivor!

I would be interested in why Nhoj and Julio voted against de Geer in the semifinal and why Gustaf doesn't like him, since he is portrayed so favorably in the texts I have come across.

[JulioMadrid]

With a narrow 4-3 victory Tage Erlander is the survivor!

I would be interested in why Nhoj and Julio voted against de Geer in the semifinal and why Gustaf doesn't like him, since he is portrayed so favorably in the texts I have come across.

I wanted Erlander to win and I thought De Geer could be the winner if he wasn't eliminated on the semifinal.

[Gustaf]

When Erlander resigned as prime minister his wife came in to hand back all government pens that had accidentally ended up at their home during his time in office. He's very much a representative of a lost era in Swedish politics.

[politicus]

Yes, he was one of the good guys.

I am still curious about why you don't like de Geer. Every text I have read about him is so positive. Was he corrupt or something?