This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

Län of Sweden

• Stockholm County (AB)
• Uppsala County (C)
• Södermanland County (D)
• Östergötland County (E)
• Jönköping County (F)
• Kronoberg County (G)
• Kalmar County (H)
• Gotland County (I)
• Blekinge County (K)
• Skåne County (M)
• Halland County (N)
• Västra Götaland County (O)
• Värmland County (S)
• Örebro County (T)
• Västmanland County (U)
• Dalarna County (W)
• Gävleborg County (X)
• Västernorrland County (Y)
• Jämtland County (Z)
• Västerbotten County (AC)
• Norrbotten County (BD)

Län (Swedish) and lääni (Finnish) refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010.^[1]

They are also sometimes used in other countries, especially as a translation of the Russian word oblast. During the period when Finland was a part of the Russian Empire (1809-1917), when Russian was made an official language alongside Swedish, it was synonymous with the word guberniya.

The term[link]

The word literally means fief. The usual English language terms used are separate for the two countries, where Sweden has chosen to translate the term as "county" while Finland prefers "province". With a shared administrative tradition spanning centuries, ending only in 1809, this is a separation by convention, rather than by distinction. The term matches reasonably well the British term "county", but not so well the American term "county" which is usually much smaller in population, more like Swedish "kommun".

The reason why Sweden has chosen to translate the term to "county" is that in Swedish and English, the word "provins"/"province" has come to mean different things. In the Swedish Empire, all lands conquered became provinser (provinces); Swedish law, which granted the common people much more freedom and influence than any other European law at the time, was not extended to them, remaining confined to the landskap (in plural) which made up the Swedish-and-Finnish heartland (roughly corresponding to present-day Sweden and Finland). Examples of such former Swedish provinser are Estonia and Swedish Pomerania. Another reason is that in education, Sweden has preferred British English over American English. "County" is a reasonable British English translation of Län.

[edit] The län

In Sweden a län is but an arm of the executive power of the national government, and has no autonomy nor legislative power. The län subdivision does not always match the traditional provinces, which are called landskap (singular and plural) in Swedish (including Swedish-speaking Finland) and maakunnat (singular maakunta) in Finnish. The same situation existed in Finland until län/lääni were abolished in 2010.

• Counties of Sweden — (Sveriges län)
• Provinces of Finland (abolished 2010) — (Suomen läänit / Finlands län)

Historically the term guberniya (Russian: губе́рния) was used for the län/lääni in the Grand Duchy of Finland as a part of Russia from 1809 to 1917. See Governorates of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

[edit] The landsting

In every Swedish län (except Gotland) there is a landsting. This is a locally elected assembly, which collects tax and has responsibility for a number of services to the population. The main responsibility is for hospitals.

[edit] The landshövding

The governor has the title landshövding (Swedish) (previously maaherra in Finnish). He or she is appointed by the government, and presides over the länsstyrelse (Swedish ; previously lääninhallitus in Finnish) - translated as "County Administrative Board". The governor's office is administrative by nature, which is also hinted at by the now obsolete title Konungens befallningshavande - "the King's Deputy" - and traditionally used as an honourable post for politicians to conclude their careers. In Finland the governor/landshövding/maaherra positions were cancelled in 2010. In opposite to countries like USA, the governor in Sweden is not elected by the people, but represents the central government.

Notes[link]

1. ^ "New regional administration model abolishes provinces in 2010". Helsingin Sanomat International Edition. Sanoma Corporation. 31 December 2009. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/New+regional+administration+model+abolishes+provinces+in+2010/1135251815296. Retrieved 1 January 2010. 

Håkan Juholt
Håkan Juholt in September 2011
Leader of the Opposition
In office 25 March 2011 – 27 January 2012
Prime Minister	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by	Mona Sahlin
Succeeded by	Stefan Löfven
Chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Party
In office 25 March 2011 – 21 January 2012
Preceded by	Mona Sahlin
Succeeded by	Stefan Löfven
Chairman of the Swedish Defence Committee
In office 12 October 2010 – 7 April 2011
Preceded by	Anders Karlsson
Succeeded by	Peter Hultqvist
Member of the Riksdag
Incumbent
Assumed office 1994
Constituency	Kalmar County
Member of the Swedish Defence Committee
In office 1994 – 12 October 2010
Personal details
Born	(1962-09-16) 16 September 1962 (age 49) Oskarshamn, Kalmar County, Sweden
Political party	Social Democrats
Alma mater	Södertornskolan
Profession	Journalist Photographer

Håkan Juholt (born 16 September 1962) is a Swedish politician who headed the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 2011 to 2012.^[1][2] He has been a member of the Riksdag since 1994,^[3] representing Kalmar län, and has also worked as a photographer and journalist.

He is a native of Oskarshamn, where his father worked as a printer and was a union man, a small fishing town of 17,000 on the Baltic Sea and the site of a nuclear power plant. His maternal grandfather was the artist Arvid Källström (1893–1967).^[4] After highschool (gymnasium, social linje), he was hired in 1980 as a photographer and journalist for Östra Småland (Östran/Nyheterna), where he is still formally employed but on leave since 1994 when he was elected to parliament. In the early 1980s, he reported from the Solidarity movement in Poland.^[5] This local Kalmar newspaper with a circulation of 13,500^[6] is one of few still owned by the Social Democrats.

Political career[link]

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 to assistant party secretary. In the spring of 2009 he was temporarily the party secretary after Marita Ulvskog resigned and before Ibrahim Baylan took over. Until he became party leader, he was the regional chairman of the Docial 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 is 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[link]

After the Swedish parliamentary election in 2010, where the Social Democrats lost badly, 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.^[5]

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.^[5] Juholt's new leadership was elected during the Social Democratic Congress on 25 March 2011.^[10]

Political affair and resignation[link]

Håkan Juholt has been involved in a political affair. It was observed in October 2011, when the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an article claiming that Juholt had, from 2007 until his time as head of the Swedish Social Democratics in 2011, requested 160,266 SEK too much in allowance for the residence he shares with his partner.^[11][12] As a result of the claim, he immediately paid back all the 160,266 SEK and stated that he wasn't aware of the rules.^[13]

During the crisis, more facts became known. He received further allowance ranging between 5,000–6,000 SEK for a privately owned car and a rented car.^[14] It also became known that the there were really no rules as Aftonbladet had stated, but merely non-written guidelines followed by some, but not all, members of parliament.^[15] Seven Social Democratic politicians expressed their opinion that Juholt should have resigned as head of the Workers' Party at that time, despite having held that position for just half a year.^[16] However, Juholt stated his intent to not resign. There has been some speculation in the aftermath that the whole affair was the result of internal conflicts in the Social Democratics, since there was a strong faction that wanted to get rid of Juholt.^[17]

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.^[18]

At the "Folk och försvar" congress in January 2012 Juholt held a speech containing a much publicised and obviously erroneous statement, claiming that the Government had decided on the reform of the armed forces with the parliamentary support of the Sweden Democrats party at a time when this party was not even represented in parliament.

On 21 January 2012, Juholt effectively announced his resignation as head of the Social Democratics at a news conference in Oskarshamn. He was replaced a few days later by Stefan Löfven.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Håkan Juholt