Feminist Greetings from Sweden!
We came here to be able to tell you what is happening in these first elections to Swedish parliament where, for the first time, a political party with a feminist program is taking part. We came to observe what is happening, what the proposals are, the welcoming, the resistances... We want to know which is the treatment the media dispense to them, the expectations and results, the changes and reactions a party like this can raise.
We came here to know and to write about the herstory, brief and intense, so far, of Feminist Initiative, or, as they say here, F!: Feministiskt Inititativ.
Talking about F! means mostly to talk about their best-known representative, Gudrun Schyman.
She is a first rate political character in the national scene, about which we will talk more in this blog. Up to now, it is enough to mention that her charisma is the main reason for the media interest about F!. But there is much more in F!, other people to talk about, other candidates and other campaigns to pay attention to.
At the beginning, the political strategy of F! has been focused on the Swedish parliament, Riksdagen, where 349 seats are disputed in 29 constituencies for a 4-year period. In order to participate in the allocation of seats and achieve representation in the Riksdag, a party must obtain at least 4 per cent of the votes in the entire country or 12 per cent in a constituency. The system is design to prevent small party representation within parliament.
There are 7 parties represented in the parliament, and two members without party affiliation, because they left their parties since the 2002 election. One of them is Gudrun Schyman,who left the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) in 2003, after 10 years as their leader, in which the party increased their votes from 6%, in 1994, to 12%, in 1998.
Parties are organized around the two traditional blocks, right and left. The right coalition is formed by the Moderate Party, the Liberal Party, the Center Party and the Christian Democrats. The left alliance is composed of the Social Democratic Party, the Left Party and the Green Party.
How can F! fit in this political scenario, since it is a party non based on the traditional right-left division, but representing feminism and equality?
But...as they say in F!:
Left Alliance or Right Coalition?
We bet 100 krones that the Prime Minister will be a man!
Priya
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