Today I received my voting papers for the Folkpartiet Provval till Riksdagen 2009. A Provval is similar to a US Primary where you vote for your favourite Party candidates but in Sweden as in the UK only paid up Party Members get to vote.
I have six first preference votes and six second preference votes. I may just give six first preference votes.
Now I do not know how the other Swedish Parties select their candidates but I am thrilled that Folkpartiet give their members the chance to vote for the candidates who could go on to be MPs.
So I am reading the biographies of all the candidates as the interesting thing for me is that I do not personally know a lot of the candidates.I have spent about four hours reading up om the folkpartiet candidates this evening.
So here are my votes….
- Jan Björklund
Jan Björklund
- the man who got me interested in Folkpartiet and inspired me when I heard him debate in the EU election. I also like what he is doing at the Education Ministry. Probably the main reason I didnt join the Moderates or the Centre Party.
- Birgitta Ohlsson.Now Birgitta is a self declared Social Liberal and Feminist. Now I am a Classic Liberal and in the past some of her ideas may have been too radical for me but I have seen how hard she works, how much she cares and I think we need more candidates like Birgitta Ohlsson in the Riksdag. She can be controversial but I feel there should be a good balance between radicals and moderates within an active Liberal Party so she gets my vote!
- Gunilla Gustafsson.Gunilla is head of Liberala Företagare and someone I worked with on the issue of temporary workers. Very impressed with her energy and commitment to the cause. She is very focused on campaigning for a more entrepreneur friendly Sweden! Amen to that!
I now need to go through the other candidates to pick another three.
And having spent some time going over their resumes and blogs, what a big help blogs are when deciding who to vote for, here are my 4th, 5th and 6th votes.
4. Karin Karlsbro
Karin has listed ten key political issues that in the main I agree with. There are a few that really stand out for me:
Again my rough translation so…
- Save the climate and environment. Environmental policy should be based on: knowledge, markets and growth.
Very sensible view on the environment, policy should not be built on hysterics but on scientific knowledge. The Private Sector really need to pull their weight on this issue as well.
- Opt for equality! Nobody should have to get poor pay, be worse treated in health care, or need to be afraid of sexual violence because of their gender.
No card carrying Liberal can really argue with any of that. No excuse for pay gaps between men and women.
- It should pay to work. A well-worn slogan, but oh so true. My heart beats for free enterprise and entrepreneurship for women. More women in senior management and Boards of listed companies, but without quotas.
At first I was a little against as I am firmly against positive discrimination, I believe a manager should be selected on merit and experience not on what they have or dont have between their legs. However I am really pleased that Karin has stipulated that there should not be quotas for this. Just as well as I would not have been able to vote for her.
5. Per Hallerby
Per is 63 a company director and is against monopolies. Having read my views on this blog about Systembolaget it should come as no surprise that I will vote for Per!
Anna uses the magic political words for me. I roughly translate:
‘I want a society with many opportunities. Where people take responsibility for their own lives and have freedom to shape their own lives’.
Thats my kind of liberalism!
Phew that was hard, there were some very good candidates and I wish I had more votes to give. In many ways I am impressed with the quality of the candidates, I love the fact there is an 18 year old candidate, I so wanted to give him a vote as well as a sitting MP who is 76. Its so important to have a Parliament that represents all ages.
Some people will frown that I have made my votes public on a blog. But you know what I dont care if it annoys people, I am not one who is looking to climb a political ladder, I just want to give my support to candidates who will make great folkpartiet riksdagledamoter.
So there you have it, real democracy in action, no smoke filled rooms and dodgy deals, no trade unions putting their candidates forward or candidates backed by big business, no cronyism, just me, a plain member of a political party casting my vote for local candidates with no interference at all.
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