1969
Left bloc · SOlof Palme becomes PM; Sweden votes to abolish its upper house.
1969 infographic: new prime minister, unicameral reform, and TV2
AI-generated infographic using the page's 1969 anchors.
Highlights
- Palme takes power: On 14 October 1969, Olof Palme succeeded Tage Erlander as Prime Minister. Erlander had held office for 23 years — the longest tenure of any leader in a functioning postwar democracy. At 42, Palme embodied a new, internationally engaged generation of Social Democracy.
- Unicameral reform: The Riksdag approved a constitutional amendment abolishing the bicameral legislature, effective from the 1970 elections. The new single chamber would have 350 seats elected by proportional representation with a four-percent threshold.
- SVT2 launches: On 5 December, Sweden's public broadcaster launched its second television channel, TV2, breaking the single-channel monopoly and signalling the gradual opening of Swedish media to pluralism.
Events in this year
1969 TV2 starts and Swedish television gains a second national channel SVT records that a second national television channel was added in 1969, extending the public-service media system beyond the single-channel era. Culture 1965-1974 Million Programme 1965 In 1965 the Riksdag adopted the Million Programme — a plan to build one million dwellings in Sweden over ten years. By 1974 roughly one million homes had been built; Olof Palme oversaw the project as Minister of Communications. It became, relative to population, the largest housing programme in the world at its time and the third corner of post-war Folkhemmet alongside 1947 welfare reforms and 1959 ATP. Reform