Elections in Sweden

Ordinary general elections are held in Sweden every four years to elect a new Riksdag, which is the Parliament of Sweden. County Council and Municipal Council elections take place at the same time. The next elections will be held in September, 2006. There is a barrier rule intended to prevent very small parties from gaining representation in the Parliament. A party must thus receive at least 4 percent of the votes in the entire country or 12 percent in a single electoral district to qualify for any seats. Every five years there is also an election to the European Parliament.

Table of contents

1 Elections to Parliament 2 Election results 2002 3 Election results in percent 1911-2002 4 See also 5 References

Elections to Parliament

The unicameral parliament has 349 members, out of which 310 are elected on a proportional system in each of the 29 national electoral districts. The remaining 39 seats are awarded on a national basis to further secure a proportional representation.

In the election the voter chooses between the different running parties. Each party is represented by a ballot listing their candidates. On the ballot the voter can indicate his or her preference for a particular candidate. Eligible to vote and stand for elections are Swedish Citizens who turn 18 years old no later than on the day of the election.

A party must also pass a set limit of 4 percent nationally, or 12 percent in one of the 29 electoral districts, in order to be awarded seats in parliament. Elections are held on the third Sunday of September every four years. The next elections are due in September, 2006

Election results 2002

As of September 15, 2002:

Party	votes	seats	Party leader
Social Democrat Party	39.9%	144	Göran Persson
Moderate Party	15.1%	55	Bo Lundgren
Liberal Party	13.3%	48	Lars Leijonborg
Christian Democrat Party	9.1%	33	Alf Svensson
Left Party	8.3%	30	Ulla Hoffman (acting)
Center Party	6.2%	22	Maud Olofsson
Green Party	4.5%	17	Peter Eriksson and Maria Wetterstrand
Others	3.6%	-
Total	100.0%	349

Election results in percent 1911-2002

Year	(v)	(s)	(mp)	(fp)	(c)	(m)	(kd)	Various	Others
2002	8.3	39.9	4.5	13.3	6.2	15.1	9.1	(nyd)	3.6
1998	12.0	36.4	4.5	4.7	5.1	22.9	11.8	0.2	2.4
1994	6.2	45.3	5.0	7.2	7.7	22.4	4.1	1.2	1.0
1991	4.5	37.6	3.4	9.1	8.5	21.9	7.1	6.7	1.2
1988	5.8	43.2	5.5	12.2	11.3	18.3	2.9		0.7
1985	5.4	44.7	1.5	14.2	10.1	21.3	2.3		0.5
1982	5.6	45.6	1.7	5.9	15.5	23.6	1.9		0.2
1979	5.6	43.2		10.6	18.1	20.3	1.4		0.8
1976	4.8	42.7		11.1	24.1	15.6	1.4		0.4
1973	5.3	43.6		9.4	25.1	14.3	1.8		0.6
1970	4.8	45.3		16.2	19.9	11.5	1.8		0.4
1968	3.0	50.1		14.3	15.7	12.9	1.5		2.6
1964	5.2	47.3		17.0	13.2	13.7	1.8		1.8
1960	4.5	47.8		17.5	13.6	16.5			0.1
1958	3.4	46.2		18.2	12.7	19.5			0.0
1956	5.0	44.6		23.8	9.4	17.1			0.1
1952	4.3	46.1		24.4	10.7	14.4			0.1
1948	6.3	46.1		22.8	12.4	12.3		(sp)	0.1
1944	10.3	46.7		12.9	13.6	15.9		0.2	0.4
1940	3.5	53.8		12.0	12.0	18.0		0.7	0.0
1936	3.3	45.9		12.9	14.3	17.6		4.4	1.6
1932	3.0	41.7		11.7	14.1	23.5		5.3	0.7
1928	6.4	37.0		15.9	11.2	29.4			0.1
1924	5.1	41.1		16.9	10.8	26.1		(vs)	0.0
1921	4.6	36.2		19.1	11.1	25.8		3.2	0.0
1920		29.7		21.8	14.2	27.9		6.4	0.0
1917		31.1		27.6	8.5	24.7		8.1	0.0
1914		36.4		26.9	0.2	36.5			0.0
1914		30.1		32.2	0.0	37.7			0.0
1911		28.5		40.2		31.2			0.1

Table Key

(v) - Left Party (s) - Social Democrat Party (mp) - Green Party (fp) - Liberal Party (c) - Center Party (m) - Moderate Party (kd) - Christian Democrat Party

(nyd) - New Democracy Party (sp) - Socialist Party (vs) - Left Socialist Party

See also

• Parliament of Sweden
• Government of Sweden
• Prime Minister of Sweden
• Politics of Sweden
• Referenda in Sweden
• Swedish Election Authority

References

• Swedish Election Authority - Official site
• United States Department of State - Sweden