Elections in Sweden
Universal, equal and free – and scrutinised by media. Here are 10 features of elections in Sweden.
1. Who can vote in Sweden?
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.
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.
2. How many Swedes actually vote?
Sweden’s voter turnout has not been below 80 per cent since the 1950s.
In the general elections of 2022, the voter turnout in Sweden was 84.21 per cent of eligible voters.
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.
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.
3. What form of government does Sweden have?
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.
Parliamentary elections are held every four years in Sweden, with the upcoming one in September 2026.
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.
4. What's the threshold for entering the Swedish parliament?
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.
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
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 Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet
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
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 Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet
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
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 Swedish government at the prime minister's summer residence, Harpsund, in August 2023. Photo: Ninni Andersson/Regeringskansliet
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.
5. Can you start your own political party in Sweden?
Yes, it is quite easy to found a party in Sweden – 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.
6. How many young people in Sweden vote?
In Sweden, turnout is generally high among the youngest voters. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, 82.7 per cent of those aged 18–24 voted.
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.
7. Is Sweden gender-equal in politics?
After the 2022 elections, there were 188 men and 161 women in the Swedish parliament.
Incidentally, this reflected the gender balance among voters: an almost equal proportion of men and women went to the polls.
Of Sweden’s current 24 ministers, including the prime minister, 12 are women and 12 men.
The first time that Swedish women could vote was in 1921 (more in the video above).
8. What is the principle of public access?
The principle of public access allows the public and the media access to official documents, making it possible to scrutinise government at all levels – national, regional and local.
The principle is set out in the Freedom of the Press Act, one of the four fundamental laws of the Swedish Constitution.
The Act also guarantees the freedom to communicate information. Everyone in Sweden has the right to provide information to the media if they believe something should be made public. Journalists are not required to reveal their sources if anonymity is requested.
Civil servants and others working in the public sector also have this right. However, certain information can be classified – for example for reasons of national security or personal privacy.
9. How free is the press in Sweden?
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 openly declare which ideology they stand for – socialist, liberal, independent and so on.
This does not necessarily determine how they report. In practice, a newspaper with a political leaning may still criticise parties or positions it broadly supports. In other words, a socialist newspaper may well criticise the Social Democrats – just as a conservative one may criticise the Moderate Party.
10. What is public service media in Sweden?
Sweden’s public service media are 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.
History of Swedish elections
2022: The Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party form a government.
2018: After a lengthy process, the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party form a government.
2014: A minority left-of-centre coalition takes over after the Alliance.
2010: The ruling centre–right Alliance beats the left-of-centre coalition, but fails to gain an outright majority.
2006: The non-socialist parties form a four-party coalition government called the Alliance.
2002 and 1998: The Social Democrats remain in office after both elections, but in order to implement their policies are forced to form a parliamentary alliance with the Left Party and the Green Party.
1994: The Social Democrats form a new minority government. Starting from this year, general elections are held every four years instead of three.
1991: A non-socialist minority government of the Moderates, Liberals, the Centre Party and Christian Democrats is formed.
1988 and 1985: The Social Democrats remain in power after both elections.
1982: The non-socialist parties lose their majority and a Social Democratic minority government is formed.
1979: The non-socialist parties retain their parliamentary majority, and a new three-party government is formed. In the spring of 1981, the Moderate Party leaves the government.
1976: The Social Democrats are defeated by a coalition consisting of the Centre Party, the Moderates and the Liberal Party.
1932–1976: The Social Democrats rule without interruption, except for a period of 109 days in 1936 when Sweden has an interim government.
