Johan Olsson

The Right Honourable Johan Olsson
Official portrait, 2019
16th President of Ordennya
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 August 2019
Prime Minister	Clas Markussen
Preceded by	Neo Isaksson
Chairman of the Senate
In office 10 May 2015 – 21 August 2019
Preceded by	Mathies Ørsted
Succeeded by	Cæcilie Jespersen
Prime Minister of Ordennya Acting (2018)
In office 17 August 2018 – 10 October 2018
President	Neo Isaksson
Deputy	Maria Picard
Preceded by	Ken Svensson
Succeeded by	Joakim Persson
In office 28 May 2000 – 11 May 2005
President	Dagmar Jensen (2000-2002) Albin Andersson
Deputy	Ingrid Edvardsen
Preceded by	Frederik Månsson
Succeeded by	Frederik Xandström
Chair of the Chamber of Deputies Liaison Committee
In office 11 July 1996 – 28 May 2000
Preceded by	Albin Andersson
Succeeded by	Birgitte Rasmussen
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee
In office 19 September 1992 – 28 May 2000
Preceded by	Kaspar Mikkelsen
Succeeded by	Albert H. Montpelier
Senator from Oured
In office 5 May 2010 – 21 August 2019
Preceded by	Øistein Andresen
Succeeded by	Lita Fisker
Member of Parliament for Axlarhagi Axlarhagi West & Bomsjö (1987-2000)
In office 7 May 1987 – 7 May 2010
Preceded by	Chris Amundsen
Succeeded by	Emil Arneberg
Personal details
Born	Johan Cristoffer Olsson (1948-12-12) 12 December 1948 Axlarhagi, Oured, Ordennya
Nationality	Ordennyan
Political party	Independent (1986-present)
Other political affiliations	Labour (before 1986)
Spouse	Petrea Østergaard
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Oured

Johan Cristoffer Olsson (born 12 December 1948) is an Ordennyan statesperson, currently serving as the 16th President of Ordennya. A factory worker and Trade Union organiser by profession, he served as Chairman of the Senate between 2015 and 2019, Senator from Oured between 2010 and 2019, Member of Parliament for Axlarhagi between 1987 and 2010, and as Prime Minister between 2000 and 2005.

He was born in Axlarhagi, an industrial town in Greater Oured, to a working class family. After receiving a degree in engineering from the University of Oured, he was employed at the Draken AB automobile factory in Axlarhagi, which at the time employed 80% of the towns residents. He became involved with the Labour Party as a teenager, as both of his parents had been Labour Party activists, and was a Trade Union shop steward for his fellow factory employees. He was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the seat of Axlarhagi West & Bomsjö at the 1983 general election, which had been created from the western portions of the previously Labour-held seat of Axlarhagi and the nearby, predominantly Conservative town of Bomsjö. Amid a landslide defeat for the Labour Party, Olsson was narrowly defeated by the Conservative Party candidate by a margin of less than 200 votes. He was re-selected as the Labour Party candidate in 1985, ahead of the election scheduled for 1987, but following the defection of the incumbent Conservative MP to the Labour Party in 1986, was replaced by the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. He later resolved to stand as an Independent candidate at the 1987 general election, and won the seat by a margin of 500 votes, owing to the support of his former Labour Party colleagues, who campaigned for him rather than the official Labour candidate.

Within the Chamber of Deputies, Olsson first served on the Committee for Industrial Affairs, which played a part in scrutinising government policy regarding exporting manufacturing jobs to other countries. In 1990, with the support of several Labour MPs, he was granted a seat on the Public Accounts Committee, which was charged with ensuring transparency in the government's disbursement of public money. He was re-elected as an Independent MP at the 1992 general election, shortly after which he was elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, garnering cross-party support for his bid amid opposition MPs due to his political independence and willingess to work across Party lines. His place as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee granted him a level of public exposure that other Chamber of Deputies Committee Chairs were not afforded, because of its work in ensuring the transparency of government operations to the public. This became particularly relevant in the aftermath of the 1994 flash crash, otherwise known as Black Wednesday, when a heated committee exchange between Olsson and the Secretary of State for Finance, Hvannar Ísak Kolsson, over the use of public funds to stave off the collapse of the bank North Star Capital, attracted an unusually large viewership for a Parliamentary proceeding.

In the aftermath of the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1996, in which Olsson again held his seat as an Independent after the local Labour Party declined to stand a candidate against him, he retained his position as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. He was also elected to the position of Chair of the Deputies Liaison Committee, a committee made up of all chairs of the Chamber of Deputies select committees, acting as a link between the committees and the general workings of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as being the only Committee with the power to directly question the Prime Minister.

Olsson was re-elected at the 2000 general election, the first held using proportional representation, contesting the enlarged seat of Axlarhagi. The election resulted in a hung parliament, and was followed by three failed investiture votes in the Chamber of Deputies. In the aftermath of the failed votes, Olsson was approached by figures from the Labour, Green, and Democratic Centre parties, who asked him to form a government as an independent consensus candidate for Prime Minister. He agreed, on the condition he only serve a single term as Prime Minister and be allowed to chart a policy for the government on his own terms. After succeeding in his investiture vote with an absolute majority, he formed a minority coalition government consisting of Labour, the Democratic Centre Party, and his three fellow Independent MPs, with the Greens giving confidence and supply.