Elections in Sweden. Riksdagsval

1. Elections in Sweden

Riksdagsval

2. General Information

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).

3. Voter eligibility

To vote in a Swedish general election, one must be:
a Swedish citizen,
at least 18 years of age on election day,
and have at some point been a registered resident of Sweden (thus excluding
foreign-born Swedes who have never lived in Sweden)
To vote in Swedish local elections (for the county councils and municipal
assemblies), one must:
be a registered resident of the county or municipality in question and be at
least 18 years of age on election day
fall into one of the following groups:
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

4. Voting

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.
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. A
single preference vote may be indicated as well.

5. Riksdagsval

All 349 members of the Riksdag are elected in the
general elections held every four years. All Swedish
citizens who turn 18 years old no later than on the day
of the election are eligible to vote in and stand for
elections. A minimum of 4% of the national vote is
required for a party to enter the Riksdag, alternatively
12% or more within a constituency. Substitutes for
each deputy are elected at the same time as each
election, so by-elections are rare. In the event of a
snap election, the newly elected members merely
serve the remainder of the four-year term.