Battle of Lycksele

The Battle of Lycksele is the name given to the Congress of the Moderate Youth League, the youth of the Swedish Moderate Party, in 1992, set in Lycksele in Lapland.

It was the culmination of years of ideological conflict between conservatives and libertarians within the Moderate Youth League. The Congress saw Fredrik Reinfeldt, later Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the Moderate Party, beat the incumbent chairman Ulf Kristersson in a highly controversial election. Kristersson was a representative of the libertarian faction of the Moderate Youth League while Reinfeldt became the icon of the Conservatives. Gunilla Carlsson, later Minister for Development Cooperation and deputy chairman of the Moderate Party, was elected vice chairman at the same time.

Because the Conservatives won in Lycksele the following years saw an increase of Conservative power in the Moderate Youth League. Kristersson went into private sector after the battle but has again returned to politics. In 2010 Kristersson became Minister for Social Security in the incumbent Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt. Reinfeldt was elected leader of the party in 2003 and became Prime Minister in 2006.