Håkan Juholt

Håkan Juholt (born 16 September 1962) is a Swedish politician who was Leader of the Social Democrats from 2011 to 2012.[1][2] He was member of the Swedish parliament from 1994 to 2016,[3] representing Kalmar län. Juholt serves as Sweden's Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland since September 2017.[4]

Håkan Juholt
Håkan Juholt in March 2011
Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2017
Prime Minister	Stefan Löfven
Preceded by	Bosse Hedberg
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 25 March 2011 – 21 January 2012
Preceded by	Mona Sahlin
Succeeded by	Stefan Löfven
Member of the Swedish Riksdag for Kalmar County
In office 1994–2016
Personal details
Born	(1962-09-16) 16 September 1962 Oskarshamn, Kalmar County, Sweden
Political party	Social Democrats
Spouse(s)	Anneli Juholt (divorced) Åsa Lindgren (m. 2014-present)
Children	2
Alma mater	Södertornskolan
Profession	Journalist Photographer

Early life and career

He is a native of Oskarshamn, a town of 17,000 on the Baltic Sea and the site of a nuclear power plant. His father worked in Oskarshamn as a printer and was a union man. His maternal grandfather was the artist Arvid Källström (1893–1967).[5] After finishing grammar school (en‑GB) / high school (en‑US), he was hired in 1980 as a photographer and journalist for the Social Democratic Kalmar newspaper Östra Småland (Östran),[6] where he is still formally employed but on leave since elected to parliament in 1994. In the early 1980s, he reported for the newspaper from the Solidarity movement in Poland.

Political career

Juholt in March 2011, when he was elected as the new party chairman.

From 1984 to 1990 he was a board member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU). In 1994 he was elected to parliament. In 2004 he was appointed assistant party secretary. In the spring of 2009 he temporarily was the party secretary after Marita Ulvskog resigned and before Ibrahim Baylan took over. Until he became party leader, he was regional chairman of the Social Democrats of Kalmar län. He's chairman of the board for Oskarshamn's harbour, John Lindgren's peace fund, Tage Erlander's memorial fund and of the ownership board for the Östra Småland newspaper.[7]

He was the party's spokesperson on defence policy. From 1995 he was a member of the joint parliament-government committee on defence policy (försvarsberedningen), and its chairman in 2000–2007.[8] From 1996 to 2011, he was a member of the parliamentary committee on defence issues (försvarsutskottet), and served as its chairman 2010–2011. He was a delegate to the parliamentarian summits of NATO in 1995 and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1996.

Party chairman

After the Swedish parliamentary election in 2010, where the Social Democrats lost a significant number of votes, Håkan Juholt criticized the party's campaign. He described it as a popcorn pan, going in all directions.[9] When Jytte Guteland, chairman of the party's youth league (SSU), called for the whole board to offer their resignation, he was the first to support her.[10]

On 10 March 2011, he was proposed by the election committee led by Berit Andnor to succeed Mona Sahlin as the chairman of the party, with Carin Jämtin as the party secretary.[10] Juholt's new leadership was elected during the Social Democratic Congress on 25 March 2011.[11]

Political scandal and resignation

The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an article in October 2011 claiming that Juholt had, from 2007 until his time as head of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in 2011, requested SEK 160,266 too much in allowance for the residence he shares with his partner.[12][13] As a result of the claim, he immediately paid the money back and stated that he wasn't aware of any rules.[14] Later on, after the public reactions to the affair, the senior public prosecutor concluded that no such rules existed at the time.[15]

The controversy seriously damaged the Social Democrats' poll ratings.[16] There was heated debate in the media over both Juholt's and Aftonbladet's conduct.[17][18]

Seven Social Democratic politicians called for Juholt to resign as party leader, despite having held that position for just half a year.[19] However, Juholt stated his intent not to resign. There was some speculation in the aftermath that the whole affair was the result of internal conflicts among the Social Democrats, since there was a strong faction that wanted to get rid of Juholt.[20]

On 14 October 2011, the Social Democrats' highest committee voted to support Juholt as head of the Social Democrats. The reason given was that the rules concerning the allowances were too unclear.[21] On 21 January 2012, Juholt effectively announced his resignation as head of the Social Democrats at a news conference in Oskarshamn. He was succeeded by Stefan Löfven.

References

1. Sundell, Camilla; Munck, Anders; Svensson, Olof (21 January 2012). "Juholt avgår". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 January 2012.
2. "Håkan Juholt ny partiordförande" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. 25 March 2011. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
3. "Håkan Juholt (S)" (in Swedish). Sveriges Riksdag. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
4. Juholt ny ambassadör på Island
5. Kratz, Anita (23 March 2011). "Håkan Juholt: "Har förberett mig i veckor"". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 March 2011.
6. "Östran/Nyheterna" (in Swedish). Tidningsstatistik AB. 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
7. "Juholt blir tf partisekreterare". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 3 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
8. "The Election Committee proposes Håkan Juholt as Party Leader and Carin Jämtin as Secretary General". Swedish Social Democratic Party. 10 March 2011. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
9. "Det var ingen rörelseriktning i valet 2010, det var som en popcorngryta där det ena efter det andra poppade upp", he said in a book by Ingemar E.L. Göransson, Arbetarrörelsens kris – mellan reformism och marknadsliberalism (2011).
10. "Håkan Juholt ska leda S ur krisen". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 10 March 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
11. "Extrakongress 2011" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. 25 January 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
12. Thulin, Staffan (7 October 2011). "Juholt har fått 160 000 kronor för mycket". Riksdag & Departement. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
13. TT (7 October 2011). "Juholt informerades redan i somras". Svenska Dagbladet. Stockholm. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
14. "Juholt: Jag har inte haft koll på reglerna". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
15. "Juholtärendet: förundersökning om bedrägeri läggs ned". Aklagare.se (in Swedish). 14 October 2011. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
16. "Historiskt ras för S i veckan" (in Swedish). SVD.se. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
17. "Lena Mellin / Aftonbladet kan inte erkänna att dom gjort fel – Kvällsöppet" (in Swedish). 19 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
18. "Juholt har inte gjort något fel" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet.se. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
19. Vidlund, Susanna (14 October 2011). "Allt fler kräver Juholts avgång". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 October 2011.
20. Oscarsson, Tord (14 October 2011). "Hysteriskt maniskt drev utan like för att knäcka Håkan Juholt ser ut att misslyckas" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
21. Olofsson, Hans L. (14 October 2011). "Förundersökningen mot Juholt läggs ner". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 October 2011.

Party political offices
Preceded by Mona Sahlin	Leader of the Social Democrats 2011–2012	Succeeded by Stefan Löfven
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Bosse Hedberg	Ambassador of Sweden to the Republic of Iceland 2017–	Succeeded by Incumbent