Claiming the number three spot in Fokus magazine’s annual ranking of Sweden’s most powerful people is Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) leader and education minister Jan Björklund.

Riksbank head Stefan Ingves (6) and Industrivärden holding company chair Sverker Martin-Löf (8) were the only two non-politicians among a top ten dominated by top names from centre-right political parties.

Sweden’s most powerful woman, according to the rankings, is justice minister Beatrice Ask (5), with Centre Party leader and enterprise minister Maud Olofsson (9) ranking as the country’s second most powerful female.

Altogether, 28 women are included on the list of Sweden’s 100 most powerful people, with newcomer Sofia Arkelsten, the Moderate Party’s new party secretary, making her debut in the rankings at number 11.

Every year, Fokus ranks Sweden’s power brokers using a number of criteria, including media penetration, formal power, informal power, and extraordinary power.

The 2010 rankings are dominated by politicians and political operatives, which together claim 35 of the top 50 spots on the list.

Social Democratic party leader Mona Sahlin dropped from third position in the 2009 rankings down to the 22nd spot in 2010 following her party’s election loss and her decision to step down as party leader.

Meanwhile, her counterparts from the other two political parties which made up the centre-left Red-Green coalition remain high on the list, with Left Party leader Lars Ohly claiming the 12th spot, followed by Peter Eriksson (13) and Maria Wetterstrand (14) of the Green Party.

Jimmie Åkesson, head of the far-right Sweden Democrats, climbed into the 15th spot in the 2010 Fokus rankings, up from 42nd place last year.

Crown Princess Victoria rose to 17th place from 23rd place, while her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, also enjoyed a bump in the rankings, landing in position 37 after managing only 70th place in 2009.