2000 Ordennyan general election

2000 Ordennyan general election

7 May 2000
All 650 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 326 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Fredrik Månsson Frederik Xandström Albin Andersson Party AP KP LP Leader since 22 March 1994 22 August 1996 22 June 1989 Leader's seat Hellesvik (Lost re-election) Nørdenavvic (List) Mellanborg Barkerud Last election 435 seats, 48.5% 148 seats, 25.4% 40 seats, 9% Seats won 270 260 64 Seat change 165 112 24 Percentage 41.54% 40% 9.85% Swing 6.96% 15.6% 0.85%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Guðmund Guðmundsson Rune Nyström Party DCP GP Leader since 17 November 1983 6 July 1995 Leader's seat November City North Oured North Last election 15 seats, 3.9% 10 seats, 3.5% Seats won 28 24 Seat change 13 14 Percentage 4.31% 4.1% Swing 0.41% 0.6%
Prime Minister before election Fredrik Månsson Labour Party Elected Prime Minister Johan Olsson Independent

The 2000 Ordennyan general election was held on 7 May 2000, four years after the previous election in 1996. It was the first election held using mixed-member proportional representation, following a constitutional amendment in 1998 changing the electoral system from first-past-the-post.

The incumbent Labour government, led by Fredrik Månsson, faced heavier than expected losses, even those expected under the new system. Throughout their four years in government, the Labour Party had enjoyed unprecedentedly high approval ratings, with many opinion polls pointing to an outright Labour majority at the beginning of the campaign period. Their ratings fell, however, after Dagens Nyheter broke news during the campaign that Fredrik Månsson's senior adviser, Julius Jönsson, had embezzled public funds through his expenses account. A wider exposê published shortly after revealed a wider scandal within the Labour Party, where it was revealed that many Labour parliamentarians and their advisors had abused their expenses accounts. Labour was able to recover from this somewhat after Jönsson's public dismissal and the overhaul of Labour's candidate lists, but they never managed to regain their wide poll lead over the Conservatives, finishing with 270 seats and 41.5% of the vote, only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives.

The Conservatives were able to mostly rebound from their historic low of the previous election, running an insurgent campaign under the leadership of former Defence Secretary Frederik Xandstrom. In the four years following the last election, Xandstrom made a concerted effort to overhaul the Conservative Party's image to make it appear more modern and liberal. For example, he appointed a frontbench with very little ministerial experience overall, free from the baggage of the previous Conservative government, promised to match Labour's public spending if they formed a government, and relaxed the Party's stances on social issues such as drug use and LGBTQI+ rights. The Labour expenses scandal during the campaign was a boon for the Conservatives, and they managed to narrow a 20-point-lead held by Labour at the beginning of the campaign to 1.5% on polling day, finishing with 260 seats and 40% of the popular vote.