Sweden Democrats want prized speaker job
UPDATED: As Sweden’s third largest party, the Sweden Democrats "assume" they will be given one of a handful of prestigious parliamentary speaker jobs, party secretary Björn Söder tells The Local.
"There is no reason for us not to assume that we will be allotted the office of deputy speaker of the parliament as it is normally given to the third largest party," Björn Söder told The Local.
"This is the custom and we were clearly reminded, after the previous elections when we demanded and were refused one of these seats, that they would be distributed among the four largest parties.
"We are now one of those parties and should therefore be allotted one of the offices."
The next batch of parliamentary speakers will be elected in a closed ballot on September 29th.
Alongside the main speaker, currently the Moderate Party’s Per Westerberg, the Riksdag will also vote for three deputy speakers.
While the selection process is not regulated by parliament, historically the posts have been allocated in relation to the parties’ relative sizes.
"The speaker of the parliament is the highest representative of the Swedish parliament and also the highest ranked office one can be elected to," said Söder.
"The speaker is second only to the King. It is customary for a representative of the government to be elected as speaker and for the three deputy speakers' offices to be distributed among the other parties based on number of votes in the general elections."
When asked about the move, Green Party spokesman Gustav Fridolin said:
“I think this is exactly one of the things that worried a lot of people; the fact they can demand positions in which they represent not only their party but also the whole country,” he told SVT.
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"There is no reason for us not to assume that we will be allotted the office of deputy speaker of the parliament as it is normally given to the third largest party," Björn Söder told The Local.
"This is the custom and we were clearly reminded, after the previous elections when we demanded and were refused one of these seats, that they would be distributed among the four largest parties.
"We are now one of those parties and should therefore be allotted one of the offices."
The next batch of parliamentary speakers will be elected in a closed ballot on September 29th.
Alongside the main speaker, currently the Moderate Party’s Per Westerberg, the Riksdag will also vote for three deputy speakers.
While the selection process is not regulated by parliament, historically the posts have been allocated in relation to the parties’ relative sizes.
"The speaker of the parliament is the highest representative of the Swedish parliament and also the highest ranked office one can be elected to," said Söder.
"The speaker is second only to the King. It is customary for a representative of the government to be elected as speaker and for the three deputy speakers' offices to be distributed among the other parties based on number of votes in the general elections."
When asked about the move, Green Party spokesman Gustav Fridolin said:
“I think this is exactly one of the things that worried a lot of people; the fact they can demand positions in which they represent not only their party but also the whole country,” he told SVT.
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