New Swedish Premier Wins Quick Approval

STOCKHOLM —  In a two-minute vote, the Swedish Parliament on Wednesday confirmed the country’s new Social Democratic leader, Ingvar Carlsson, as successor to assassinated Prime Minister Olof Palme.

Carlsson, who took over as acting premier Feb. 28, the night of the killing, was elected without opposition as Sweden’s new prime minister with the support of the Social Democrats and their Communist allies.

The 159 deputies of the center-right opposition abstained, and the motion to appoint Carlsson was carried by 178 votes. The new prime minister, who had served as Palme’s deputy since 1982, is due to present his Cabinet and government program today.

The gaunt and bespectacled Carlsson wore black as he sat next to the empty seat occupied since 1958 by his slain predecessor. A bowl of yellow flowers marked Palme’s place.

Broad Smiles

Carlsson smiled broadly as party colleagues filed up to congratulate him after the vote. He then left the chamber while Parliament immediately plunged into a finance debate, marking the return of business as usual.

The 51-year-old Carlsson had been unanimously elected to succeed Palme as head of the Social Democratic Party, Sweden’s largest, a few hours after the murder and his choice as prime minister was equally uncontroversial.

Meanwhile, in Athens, a Greek newspaper Wednesday published what it said was a statement by the ultraright Croatian group Ustasha claiming responsibility for the assassination of Palme.

The statement said that former chancellors Bruno Kreisky of Austria and Willy Brandt of West Germany, as well as Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez of Spain, will be the next targets.

Involvement Denied

And also in Greece, the Athens representative of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), named in the Swedish and Turkish press as possibly involved in the killing, denied PKK involvement and alleged that Palme was shot as part of a plot by the American, Israeli and Turkish secret services.

The statement ascribed to the Ustasha was published by the newspaper Nea. It said Palme was killed because he wanted to turn Sweden, through socialism, into a Communist country.

Stockholm Police Chief Hans Holmer said investigators are not taking the Ustasha claim any more seriously than the others that have been made by various groups.

The Swedish news agency TT quoted police sources as saying shortly after the murder that suspicion had fallen on Croatian groups, but police later said this was not true. The conservative Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet said on March 6 that police considered the PKK the most likely group to have carried out the killing.

Palme’s funeral this Saturday, two weeks after he was shot down by an unknown gunman on the streets of Stockholm, was partly delayed to allow time for the formal transfer of power after his death.

World leaders converging on Stockholm for the ceremony will include Soviet Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, who will be making his first trip to the West since his appointment last year.