Prime Minister
Following the assassination of Olof Palme in 1986 Ingvar Carlsson became the new Prime Minister or Statsminister and party leader. Together with Minister for Finance Kjell-Olof Feldt, the government turned a budget deficit of 90 billions SEK to a surplus of a few hundred billion SEK, which led to large investments and record low unemployment. As Prime Minister he also carried out a comprehensive reform of the tax system. But Sweden's economy would start deteriorate more in the early 1990s. In 1990 the Carlsson cabinet resigned after failing to gain majority for economic reforms, but was reinstated immediately with a slightly changed agenda.
The Social Democrats lost the elections in 1991, but Carlsson returned to power after the elections in 1994.
After three years of an bourgeois government and an election victory in 1994 elections, Carlsson could re-form a government. This government put focus on cleaning up the Swedish Government finances, and it was assigned to the newly appointed Minister for Finance Göran Persson. The government period was tough and it was strongly criticized by trade unions and party members for all savings and tax increases that were made.
In August 1995, Ingvar Carlsson announced that he would resign as party leader and Swedish Prime Minister. His successor was long considered to be the then Minister for Equality and Deputy Prime Minister Mona Sahlin. However, due to the so-called Toblerone Affair, she took back her candidacy and also later resigned from the government. On December 5, 1995, the nomination committee proposed Minister for Finance Göran Persson as the new party leader candidate. He was elected on March 15, the following year on the Social Democratic Party Congress to the Social Democratic party leader and on March 22, 1996 he was elected Prime Minister.
Read more about this topic: Ingvar Carlsson
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