Young people walking outside the Swedish parliament building in Stockholm.
Heading towards the Swedish parliament. Photo: Anders Löwdin/Sveriges riksdag

Elections in Sweden

Universal, equal and free – and scrutinised by media. Here are 10 features of elections in Sweden.

1. Parliamentary elections

Sweden is a parliamentary democracy. This means there are no presidential elections in Sweden, only parliamentary elections. Based on which party – or coalition of parties – that receives the majority of votes, the parliament appoints a prime minister who then forms the government.

The last time one party got absolute majority was in 1968, when the Social Democrats received 50.1 per cent of the votes.

Every five years, Swedes also have the opportunity to vote in the elections to the European Parliament, as Sweden is a member of the European Union, EU.

The Sami parliament

The indigenous Sami people have their own parliament in Sweden, Sametinget. It is both an elected parliament and a public agency, and its main task is to act for a living Sami culture.

2. The four-per cent rule

To be assigned any seats in the Swedish parliament, a party must receive at least four per cent of the votes or at least 12 per cent of the votes in any of the country’s 29 constituencies. That’s why there are few small parties in parliament.

The parliament has 349 seats. After an election, the Election Authority distributes the seats proportionally, depending on the number of votes that each party has received. To make sure that the members of parliament represent the whole country, the distribution of seats also takes into account the election results in each constituency. The largest constituency is the County of Stockholm, the smallest the County of Gotland.

3. High voter turnout

In the general elections of 2022, the voter turnout in Sweden was 84.21 per cent of eligible voters. The turnout has not been below 80 per cent since the 1950s.

Many factors influence the high turnout: trust in democratic institutions, respect for the electoral system, and the fact that parliamentary elections are combined with elections to local and regional governments. The authorities of a municipality or region are chosen by local voters, and not appointed from the capital of Stockholm.

A man has his identity card examined. An identity check is performed when voting in elections in Sweden.

Usually, between 80 and 90 per cent of eligible voters go to the polls in elections in Sweden every four years. Photo: Plattform/Scandinav/imagebank.sweden.se

Three girls on a park bench. Someone passes by, blurred. Young people often have school election to practice for elections in Sweden.

Many schools in Sweden let students under the age of 18 practice voting in a school election. Photo: Lieselotte van der Meijs/imagebank.sweden.se

The ministers of the Swedish government standing on the steps of the prime minister's summer residence.

The Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet

A man has his identity card examined. An identity check is performed when voting in elections in Sweden.

Usually, between 80 and 90 per cent of eligible voters go to the polls in elections in Sweden every four years. Photo: Plattform/Scandinav/imagebank.sweden.se

Three girls on a park bench. Someone passes by, blurred. Young people often have school election to practice for elections in Sweden.

Many schools in Sweden let students under the age of 18 practice voting in a school election. Photo: Lieselotte van der Meijs/imagebank.sweden.se

The ministers of the Swedish government standing on the steps of the prime minister's summer residence.

The Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet

A man has his identity card examined. An identity check is performed when voting in elections in Sweden.

Usually, between 80 and 90 per cent of eligible voters go to the polls in elections in Sweden every four years. Photo: Plattform/Scandinav/imagebank.sweden.se

Three girls on a park bench. Someone passes by, blurred. Young people often have school election to practice for elections in Sweden.

Many schools in Sweden let students under the age of 18 practice voting in a school election. Photo: Lieselotte van der Meijs/imagebank.sweden.se

The ministers of the Swedish government standing on the steps of the prime minister's summer residence.

The Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet

Corruption Perceptions Index

Sweden currently ranks as the sixth least corrupt country in the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.

4. Who can vote?

To vote in parliamentary elections in Sweden, you have to be a Swedish citizen aged 18 or more, who is or have been registered in Sweden. But in local and regional elections, it is not only Swedish citizens who have the right to vote, but also:

  • citizens of other EU countries, Iceland or Norway who are registered in the municipality or county; and
  • citizens of other countries who have been registered in Sweden for a minimum of three years and are registered in the municipality or county.

The reasoning is that politicians elected to local and regional authorities should take care of the interests of everyone who lives in the area, regardless of citizenship.

As for women's voting rights, the first time that Swedish women could vote was in 1921 (more in the video below).

5. Young people vote too

In Sweden, voter turnout is equally high among younger people. Schools often prepare students for voting before they turn 18 by inviting representatives of different political parties, so that students can learn about how the country’s democratic system works and what the different parties stand for. That way, young people have the opportunity to compare and draw their own conclusions.

For many students under the age of 18, there is an initiative called Skolval, school election (link in Swedish), serving both as practice for the students as well as a political indicator. These votes are not counted as a part of the real elections, and can differ quite a lot from the adults’ votes. In 2022, as many as 1,442 schools took part in the school election, with close to 386,000 students voting.

6. Registering your own party

In Sweden, it is very easy to found a party – you can, for example, form a non-profit association. The party founder can register the name with the Election Authority, but that’s not necessary – people can vote for the party anyway by writing the party name on a clean ballot provided at the polling station. This vote will also be counted.

In the latest elections, all parties that were not among the nine largest only scored around one per cent of the total vote.

7. Gender-equal society – gender-equal parliament

After the 2022 elections, there were 188 men and 161 women in the Swedish parliament.

Incidentally, this reflects the gender balance among voters: an almost equal proportion of men and women went to the polls.

8. Parliamentary diversity

Diversity in the Swedish parliament is not only related to gender, but also age, background, et cetera. The youngest member of parliament (MP) elected in 2022 was Aida Birinxhiku, 23 years old, the oldest Gudrun Nordborg, 76.

Sweden's freedom of the press act, as a book.
In 1766 Sweden became the first country in the world to have freedom of the press written into the constitution. Photo: Fredrik Funk/DN/TT

9. The principle of public access

One of the four fundamental laws of the Swedish Constitution is the Freedom of the Press Act. This law sets out the principle of public access to official documents, among other things. This principle allows people to study official documents from parliament, the government or any public agency whenever they wish. In other words, not only the media can scrutinise those in power.

Another principle in the Freedom of the Press Act is the freedom to communicate information. Everyone in Sweden has the right to give information to the media, when they feel something should be made public. The publisher of the material may not reveal the source if the individual in question wishes to remain anonymous.

10. Media – the 'third power'

Media in Sweden are sometimes referred to as the ‘third power’. The government and the parliament are the first two powers, and it is seen as the role of media to scrutinise the first two.

Many newspapers declare – in writing – which ideology they stands for. They can be socialist, liberal, independent, and so on, but an important note here is that it doesn’t affect the newspaper’s objectivity: objectivity is vital regardless of ideology. In other words, a socialist newspaper may well criticise the Social Democrats.

Swedish public service

Then there is public service media, owned by an independent foundation and funded through a public service fee paid by Swedish households. SVT (Sweden’s Television) operates four television channels, Sveriges Radio (Sweden’s Radio) operates several radio channels – all without advertising – and UR, the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company, produces and broadcasts educational and general knowledge programmes.

These public service companies are led by a special board with members nominated by parliamentary parties, and an independent leader. This setup aims to safeguard Swedish public service broadcasting against monopolistic control.