The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liberalism.

[8] The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League (Allmänna valmansförbundet [ˈâlːmɛnːa ˈvɑ̂ːlmansfœrˌbɵndɛt] ⓘ) by a group of conservatives in the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament.

[11] Under Kristersson's leadership, the party moved back to the right and opened up to the Sweden Democrats (SD) following the 2018 Swedish general election.

The importance of a strong defence was underlined and other societal institutions embraced by the party were the monarchy and the state of law.

The party initially held ia protectionist view towards the economy; tariffs were widely supported as well as interventionist economical measures such as agricultural subsidies.

In the defence policy crisis in 1914 (which overturned the parliamentary Liberal government), the party sided with King Gustaf V but stopped short of accepting a right-wing government by royal appointment, instead opting for an independent-conservative "war cabinet" under Hjalmar Hammarskjöld which was eventually overturned in favour of a Liberal-Social Democratic majority coalition government and thus the breakthrough of parliamentary rule, albeit reluctantly embraced by the right.Arvid Lindman (often called "The Admiral") became influential in the party and served two terms as Prime Minister of Sweden, before and after the enactment of universal suffrage.

It was only because the party was in the minority that Sweden was able to grant the right to vote for all, pushed through by the Liberals and the Social Democrats (the left), against the objections of the right.

For this, he was widely respected, even by his fiercest political opponents and when he resigned and left the parliament in 1935, the leader of the Social Democrats, Per Albin Hansson, expressed his "honest thanks over the battle lines".

From the beginning of the 20th century, social democracy and the labour movement rose to replace liberalism as the major political force for radical reforms.

The Moderate Party intensified its opposition to socialism during the leadership of Lindman—the importance of continuance and strengthening national business were cornerstones.

But at the same time, recent social issues gained significant political attention; by appeasing the working class, the party also hoped to reduce the threat of revolutionary tendencies.

The government later formed by the party did not accept the concept of the market economy but continued the protectionist policy by generous financial aid.

[15] The government of Lindman fell in 1930 after the Social Democrats and the Freeminded People's Party had blocked a proposition for a raised customs duty on grain.

From having been a ruling party, the General Electoral League turned into a bastion of right-wing opposition, and in 1938 it was renamed the National Organization of the Right (Swedish: Högerns riksorganisation [ˈhøːɡɛɳʂ ˈrɪ̂ksɔrɡanɪsaˌɧuːn] ⓘ), a name that would stay until 1952.

The Moderate Party led a center-right coalition between 1991 and 1994, with Bildt serving as the first conservative Prime Minister since Arvid Lindman.

The cabinet of Carl Bildt did much to reform the Swedish government: they cut taxes, cut public spending, introduced voucher schools, made it possible for counties to privatize health care, liberalised markets for telecommunications and energy, and privatised former publicly owned companies (further deregulations and privatisations were carried out by the following Social Democratic Cabinet of Göran Persson).

Prior to the 2006 general election, the Moderate Party adjusted its position in the political spectrum, moving towards the centre-right.

To reflect these changes, the party's unofficial name was altered to The New Moderates (Swedish: De Nya Moderaterna [dɔm ˈnŷːa mʊdɛˈrɑ̌ːtɛɳa] ⓘ).

[16] This has included focus on proactive measures against unemployment, lower taxes combined with reforms to strengthen the Swedish welfare state.

[citation needed] Anna Kinberg Batra was elected to succeed Reinfeldt as party leader on 10 January 2015.

[20] Kristersson held a meeting in December 2019 with Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, and said that he would cooperate with them in parliament.

According to Ann-Cathrine Jungar of Södertörn University, this put Sweden in line with several other European countries in which the centre-right and nationalist-right parties cooperate.

[24] In 2024, new laws proposed by the Kristersson Cabinet to combat Sweden's criminality crisis took in effect including harder penalties against weapons offences, breach of the permit obligation for explosive goods, arms smuggling and smuggling of explosive goods.

[25] Other laws gave increased opportunities to the police to use covert means of coercion to prevent and investigate serious crime, tougher border controls and extended power to security guards.

[32] After Fredrik Reinfeldt became leader, the party slowly moved further towards the political centre and also adopted pragmatic views.

[34] The party abandoned its previously liberal stance on immigration, notably manifested by Fredrik Reinfeldt's summer speech in 2014 in which he appealed for "open hearts" to meet the expected migrant waves.

The party supports border controls and tougher rules for immigrants, including temporary residence permits, stricter requirements for family reunification and cuts in welfare benefits.