The concept of the Republic of Jamtland was founded in 1964 (recalling the former 10th-century republic) in reaction to emigration from the county. The event that triggered its foundation was the
centralist plan of Swedish officials to merge Jämtland County with
Västernorrland County. The founders organized an association,
The Liberation Movement, and mobilized the people through the "freedom festival"
Storsjöyran. TV entertainer
Yngve Gamlin was "elected" president, and
Jamtland was proclaimed a republic in its own right, within the
Kingdom of Sweden. The second president, the comedian
Moltas Erikson, described the Liberation Movement as "51% in jest and 49% in earnest". It is largely seen as a humorous hoax, and actual support for an independent state among the local population is low. The movement's main focus is to preserve and promote the Jamtlandic culture,
language and way of life, but not independence for the three "constituent republics". The third president was
Ewert Ljusberg, a man again from
show business. Once a year he made a popular speech at the city festival Storsjöyran in
Östersund where he agitated against and mocked the "Big-Swedes", the
Swedish government and the
European Union, in a simultaneously serious and joking manner.
Actress and
television host Eva Röse was elected the Republic's fourth president in 2022. ==National symbols==