Elections in Sweden

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Elections to determine the makeup of the legislative bodies on the three levels of administrative division in the Kingdom of Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, these elections determine the allocation of seats in the Riksdag, the national legislative body of Sweden. Elections to the 20 county councils (landsting) and 290 municipal assemblies (kommunfullmäktige) – all using roughly the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September (with effect from 2014; until 2010 they had been held on the third Sunday in September).

Sweden also holds elections to the European Parliament, which unlike Swedish domestic elections are held in June every five years, although they are also held on a Sunday and use an almost identical electoral system. The last Swedish general election was held on 14 September 2014. The last Swedish election to the European Parliament was held on 25 May 2014.

Electoral system

Dates

Elections to Sweden's county councils occur simultaneously with the general elections on the second Sunday of September. Elections to the municipal assemblies also occur on the second Sunday of September. Elections to the European Parliament occur every five years in June throughout the entire European Union; the exact day of the election varies by country according to local tradition, thus in Sweden all European parliament elections occur on a Sunday.

Voter eligibility

Polling station in Gothenburg, 1940 general election

To vote in a Swedish general election, one must be:[1]

To vote in Swedish local elections (for the county councils and municipal assemblies), one must:[1]

  1. Swedish citizens
  2. Citizens of Iceland, Norway, or any country in the European Union
  3. Citizens of any other country who have permanent residency in Sweden and have lived in Sweden for three consecutive years

In order to vote in elections to the European Parliament, one must be 18 years old, and fall into one of the following groups:[1]

  1. Swedish citizens who are or have been residents of Sweden
  2. Citizens of any other country in the European Union who are currently residents of Sweden; such citizens, by choosing to vote in European Parliamentary elections in Sweden, become ineligible to vote in European Parliamentary elections in any other EU member state

In general, any person who is eligible to vote is also eligible to stand for election.

Voting

A typical feature of Swedish elections is the handing out of party ballot papers by activists of the different parties outside polling stations on election day. Photo from the 1936 election.
Swedish polling station with an assortment of ballots for different parties, from which voters normally have to choose openly for all to see.

Unlike in many countries where voters chose from a list of candidates or parties, each party in Sweden has separate ballot papers. The ballot papers must be identical in size and material, and have different colors depending on the type of election: yellow for Riksdag elections, blue for county council elections and white for municipal elections and elections to the European Parliament.

Sweden uses open lists and utilizes apparentment between lists of the same party and constituency to form a cartel, a group of lists that are legally allied for purposes of seat allocation.[2] A single preference vote may be indicated as well.[3]

Swedish voters can choose between three different types of ballot papers. The party ballot paper has simply the name of a political party printed on the front and is blank on the back. This ballot is used when a voter wishes to vote for a particular party, but does not wish to give preference to a particular candidate. The name ballot paper has a party name followed by a list of candidates (which can continue on the other side). A voter using this ballot can choose (but is not required) to cast a personal vote by entering a mark next to a particular candidate, in addition to voting for their political party. Alternatively, a voter can take a blank ballot paper and write a party name on it.[4] Finally, if a party hasn't registered its candidates with the election authority, it is possible for a voter to manually write the name of an arbitrary candidate. In reality, this option is almost exclusively available when voting for unestablished parties. However, it has occasionally caused individuals to be elected into the city council to represent parties they don't even support as a result of a single voter's vote.[5]

The municipalities and the national election authority have the responsibility to organise the elections. On the election day, voting takes place in a municipal building such as a school. It is possible to do early voting, also in a municipal building which is available in day time, such as a library. Early voting can be performed anywhere in Sweden, not just in the home municipality.

Swedish election policy of always displaying the ballot papers for voters to select in public, making it impossible for many voters to vote secretly, has been criticised as undemocratic. Many use subterfuge and select bunches of additional ballots which they do not actually intend to use.[6]

Cost of ballot papers

For the general elections, the State pays for the printing and distribution of ballot papers for any party which has received at least one percent of the vote nationally in either of the previous two elections. For local elections, any party that is currently represented in the legislative body in question is entitled to free printing of ballot papers.[7][8]

Constituencies

In Riksdag elections, constituencies are usually coterminous with one of the Swedish counties, though the Counties of Stockholm, Skåne (containing Malmö), and Västra Götaland (containing Gothenburg) are divided into smaller electoral constituencies due to their larger populations. The number of available seats in each constituency is based on its number of voters (vis-à-vis the number of voters nationwide), and parties are apportioned seats in each constituency based on their votes in that constituency.[9]

In County Council elections, individual municipalities—or alternatively groups of municipalities—are used as electoral constituencies. The number of seats on the county council allocated to each constituency, and the borders of these constituencies, is entirely at the discretion of each county council itself. As mandated by Swedish law, nine out of ten seats on each county council are permanent seats from a particular constituency; the remaining seats are at-large adjustment seats, used to ensure county-wide proportionality with the vote, just as with general elections.[4]

For European parliamentary elections, all of Sweden consists of one electoral district.

Candidate selection

In Sweden the seats of the Riksdag are allocated to the parties, and the prospective members are selected by their party.[9] Sweden uses open lists and utilizes apparentement between lists of the same constituency and party to form a cartel, a group of lists that are legally allied for purposes of seat allocation.[2] Which candidates from which lists are to secure the seats allocated to the party is determined by two factors: preference votes are first used to choose candidates which pass a certain threshold,[10] then the number of votes cast for the various lists within that party are used.[2][11][10] In national general elections, any candidates who receive a number of personal votes equal to eight percent or greater of the party's total amount of votes will automatically be bumped to the top of the list, regardless of their ranking on the list by the party. This threshold is only five percent for local elections and elections to the European Parliament.[12]

Although sometimes dissatisfied party supporters put forward their own lists, the lists are usually put forward by the parties, and target different constituencies and categories of voters.[11] Competition between lists is usually more of a feature of campaign strategies than for effective candidate preferences, and does not bear prominent in elections.[11]

Seat allocation

Seats in the various legislative bodies are allocated amongst the Swedish political parties proportionally using a modified form of the Sainte-Laguë method. This modification creates a systematic preference in the mathematics behind seat distribution, favoring larger and medium-sized parties over smaller parties. It reduces the slight bias towards larger parties in the d'Hondt formula. At the core of it, the system remains intensely proportional, and thus a party which wins approximately 25% of the vote should win approximately 25% of the seats. An example of the close correlation between seats and votes can be seen below in the results of the 2002 Stockholm municipal election.

In Riksdag elections, 310 of the members are elected using a party-list proportional representation system within each of Sweden's 29 electoral constituencies. The remaining 39 seats in the Riksdag are "adjustment seats," distributed amongst the parties in numbers that will ensure that the party distribution in the Riksdag matches the distribution of the votes nationally (in the previous election) as closely as possible.[9] County elections use the same system. All seats on municipal assemblies are permanent; there are no adjustment seats. This can cause the distribution of seats in the municipal assemblies to differ somewhat from the actual distribution of votes in the election.[13] The European Parliament has 732 permanent seats, 19 of which were allocated to Sweden for the 2004 election. Sweden will be allocated 18 seats in the European Parliament in 2009.

In order to restrict the number of parties which win seats in the Riksdag, a threshold has been put in place. In order to win seats in the Riksdag, a party must win at least four percent of the vote nationally, or twelve percent of the vote in any electoral constituency.[13] County elections use a lower threshold of three percent. For municipal elections, there is no minimum threshold for winning seats.[13]

Party Percent of seats[14] Percent of votes[15]
Social Democratic Party 34.7% 32.1%
Moderate Party 26.7% 26.0%
Liberal People's Party 16.8% 15.8%
Left Party 10.9% 11.2%
Green Party 5.9% 5.3%
Christian Democratic Party 5.0% 4.4%

Terms of office

The assembly members are elected for a fixed term, which presently is four years long. In 1970 to 1994, the term length was three years; before that, normally four years. The Riksdag may be dissolved earlier by a decree of the prime minister, in which case new elections are held; however, new members will hold office only until the next ordinary election, the date of which remains the same. Thus the terms of office of the new members will be the remaining parts of the terms of the MPs in the dissolved parliament.

The unicameral Riksdag has never been dissolved by decree. The last time the second chamber of the old Riksdag was dissolved in this manner was in 1958.

The regional and local assemblies cannot be dissolved before the end of their term.

Riksdag elections

The unicameral Parliament of Sweden has 349 members: 310 are elected using party-list proportional representation, and 39 using "adjustment seats."

Latest result

The 2010 general election saw the incumbent center-right "Alliance for Sweden" earn 49.3% of votes and for the first time ever a second term was gained by a non-Social Democrat led government.

The red-green coalition consisting of Social Democrats, the Green party and the left party got 43.7% while the unaffiliated Sweden Democrats broke the 4% threshold and entered the Riksdag for the first time.

The results were notable for being the Moderate Party's best since 1928[16] and the Social Democrats' worst since the institution of universal suffrage in 1921, thus spelling a decisive break with the hold on power of the Social Democrats who had dominated Swedish politics for 80 years.

Riksdag election results in percent 1911-2014[16]

The first election to a unicameral Riksdag was held in 1970. The older figures refer to elections of the second chamber (Andra kammaren) under the older bicameral system.

Table Key
  • (V) - Left Party, formerly Communist Party
  • (S) - Social Democrat Party
  • (MP) - Green Party
  • (FP) - Liberal Party
  • (C) - Centre Party, formerly Peasants League
  • (M) - Moderate Party, formerly Right-wing Party
  • (KD) - Christian Democrat Party
  • (NyD) - New Democracy
  • (SP) - Socialist Party
  • (SSV) - Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden
  • (SD) - Sweden Democrats
  • (Fi) - Feminist initiative
Year (V) (S) (MP) (FP) (C) (M) (KD) (SD) Various Others Participation
2014 5.7 31.0 6.9 5.4 6.1 23.3 4.6 12.9 3.1 (Fi) 1.4 85.81%
2010 5.6 30.7 7.3 7.1 6.6 30.1 5.6 5.7 1.4 84.63%
2006 5.9 35.0 5.2 7.5 7.9 26.2 6.6 2.9 2.7 81.99%
2002 8.4 39.9 4.7 13.4 6.2 15.3 9.1 1.4 1.4 80.11%
1998 12.0 36.4 4.5 4.7 5.1 22.9 11.8 0.4 2.2 81.4%
1994 6.2 45.3 5.0 7.2 7.7 22.4 4.1 1.2 (NyD) 1.0 86.4%
1991 4.5 37.6 3.4 9.1 8.5 21.9 7.1 6.7 (NyD) 1.2 86.7%
1988 5.8 43.2 5.5 12.2 11.3 18.3 2.9 0.7 85.96%
1985 5.4 44.7 1.5 14.2 10.1 21.3 2.3 0.5 89.93%
1982 5.6 45.6 1.7 5.9 15.5 23.6 1.9 0.2 91.44%
1979 5.6 43.2 10.6 18.1 20.3 1.4 0.8 90.72%
1976 4.8 42.7 11.1 24.1 15.6 1.4 0.4 91.76%
1973 5.3 43.6 9.4 25.1 14.3 1.8 0.6 90.84%
1970 4.8 45.3 16.2 19.9 11.5 1.8 0.4 88.3%
1968 3.0 50.1 14.3 15.7 12.9 1.5 2.6 89.3%
1964 5.2 47.3 17.0 13.2 13.7 1.8 1.8 83.3%
1960 4.5 47.8 17.5 13.6 16.5 0.1 85.9%
1958 3.4 46.2 18.2 12.7 19.5 0.0 77.4%
1956 5.0 44.6 23.8 9.4 17.1 0.1 79.8%
1952 4.3 46.1 24.4 10.7 14.4 0.1 79.1%
1948 6.3 46.1 22.8 12.4 12.3 (SP) 0.1 82.7%
1944 10.3 46.7 12.9 13.6 15.9 0.2 0.4 71.9%
1940 3.5 53.8 12.0 12.0 18.0 0.7 0.0 70.3%
1936 3.3 45.9 12.9 14.3 17.6 4.4 1.6 74.5%
1932 3.0 41.7 11.7 14.1 23.5 5.3 0.7 68.6%
1928 6.4 37.0 15.9 11.2 29.4 0.1 67.4%
1924 5.1 41.1 16.9 10.8 26.1 (SSV) 0.0
1921 4.6 36.2 19.1 11.1 25.8 3.2 0.0
1920 6.4 29.7 21.8 14.2 27.9 0.0
1917 8.1 31.1 27.6 8.5 24.7 0.0
1914 36.4 26.9 0.2 36.5 0.0
1914 30.1 32.2 37.7 0.0
1911 28.5 40.2 31.2 0.1

Riksdag election results by year

County Council elections

County Council elections results

Municipal elections

Municipal elections results

Stockholm Municipality

Other municipalities

Elections to the European Parliament

The most recent European parliamentary elections in Sweden were held in June 2014.

European parliamentary election results

Elections for the European Parliament held in Sweden.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Swedish Election Authority, "Suffrage and electoral rolls"
  2. 1 2 3 Cox 1997, p. 61.
  3. ↑ Elections, p. 12.
  4. 1 2 Elections, p. 7.
  5. ↑ http://nyheter24.se/nyheter/politik/729889-jimmy-akesson-kan-tvingas-representera-sd
  6. ↑ Dagens Nyheter 2014-09-14 p. 6
  7. ↑ Elections, p. 8.
  8. ↑ Choe, Yonhyok. 1997. How to Manage Free and Fair Elections. Göteborg: Göteborg University.
  9. 1 2 3 Ewing 2010, p. 151.
  10. 1 2 Elections, p. 20.
  11. 1 2 3 Särlvik 1983, p. 134.
  12. ↑ Elections, p. 16.
  13. 1 2 3 Elections, p. 13.
  14. ↑ Statistics Sweden "Kommunfullmäktigval - erhållna mandat efter kommun och parti. Valår 1973-2006"
  15. ↑ Statistics Sweden "Kommunfullmäktigval - valresultat efter kommun och parti mm. Valår 1973-2006"
  16. 1 2 Statistics Sweden "Historisk statistik över valåren 1910 - 2006. Procentuell fördelning av giltiga valsedlar efter parti och typ av val"

External links

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