Ture Königson

Ture König Königson (21 June 1910 – 13 October 1994) was a

Regarding the pension reform, the vote in the parliament had been preceded by a general referendum, in which the proposed reform had won the most votes (out of three alternatives) but no majority. At the time of the parliamentary vote in 1959, the government side counted with 115 seats and the opposition to the reform (including Königson's People's Party) had 115 seats. By abstaining from voting (the sole parliamentarian to do so), Königson decided the vote in the favour of the reform proposal.[3]

This type of action, to disobey party directives in a crucial parliamentary vote, is highly unusual in Swedish politics. Through his abstention, Königson became the most prominent parliamentary dissident in modern Swedish politics.^[4] After the vote, Königson declared that being a worker himself he could not vote against the pension reform.^[3] He stated that he could not have looked his colleagues at the shipyard in the eyes, had he voted no. Although he received support from the public for his decision, his political career was effectively ended. He was not put forth for re-election by the People's Party in the 1960 polls.^[4]

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