European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

A look at the Swedish political system

by high5
Fri Jun 17th, 2005 at 01:51:11 AM EST

The Swedes, who pat themselves on the back for being the descendants of the Vikings and romantically longs for the days of being a great power on the european scene have penalized their King accordingly.

Today our King cannot utter dismay or approval of any matter whatsoever without being considered out of bounds.

Ah, the good old days. Part of our national anthem actually goes like
this:

You reside on the memories of ancient great days
when honored your name traveled the earth
I know that you are and you'll be what you were
Yes, I will live and I will die in the North

I guess our European brethren doesn't know what's coming their way. :)

For the intricacies of the Swedish system of goverment I lazily refer
you to Wikipedia

On the mechanics of voting I offer what I once wrote in response to
a quiery on what was The New European Times (now The New International
Times):

"Sweden's voting system is a lot like Switzerlands. We automatically get the voting papers without having to do any special registering. If we aren't able to attend at the voting place at election day we can vote 'absentee' before election day. Actually, 'absentee' voting isn't that different: at designated post offices there is in fact a 'regular' voting place where the 'absentee' voting is done prior to the the general election day.

As for our citizen registry amounting to a 'police state': I think it's much more of a 'police state' to have to register your political affiliation as is the case in the US. Here, registering such personal data is a criminal offense.

As for the ballots. What I've heard about ballot design in the US is such a joke. In Sweden we don't have one ballot in which to select a number of choices. I think that's one of the reasons counting is such a convoluted process in America. Rather, we have one 'ballot' per party. We pick the 'ballot' for the party of our choice, put it in an envelope and drop it in the 'ballot' box. Counting is a simple process. After election time, unlock the box, pile up the 'ballots' in one pile per party, and count the piles.

Ok, it's a little bit more complicated than that. On the 'ballot' for the party we choose there's an enumeration of the candidates to parliament for that party. If there is a certain candidate we prefer we can indicate that with an 'x' beside that candidates name. We're allowed to 'recommend' two candidates. If a candidate gets enough 'recommendations' a seat in parliament is guaranteed for that candidate.

So, getting to know which party won the election is fairly easy, compiling the seats in parliament is another matter."

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A look at the Swedish political system | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: A look at the Swedish political system (none / 0)

I might be lazier...care to give any highlights to the Swedish political system? Is it Parliamentary, do you have a president, etc., etc.

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!

by whataboutbob on Fri Jun 17th, 2005 at 02:05:53 AM EST

Re: A look at the Swedish political system (4.00 / 2)

Highlights:

We have a parlamentiary system under a constitutional monarchy. As indicated above though, our King has squat to say when it comes to how the country is run.

Parties who receives more than 4 per cent of the votes in general elections will have seats in parliament in proportion to the acquired number of votes.

Currently we have six parties in parliament: The Left (8,3%), Social Democrats (39,8%), Green Party (4,6%), The Center (6,1%), The Liberal Party (13,3%), The Christian democrats (9,1%) and The Moderates (15,2%). (Numbers are from the general election in 2002). The first three are currently making up the governing coalition with the party leader of the Social Democrats holding the position as Prime minister (Statsminister).

The elctorate at either side of the aisle is currently heavily unstable. Latest poll shows the Moderates at about 30% and the liberals and cds hoovering around the 4% level. The outlook for the 2006 elections is that we may indeed have a change in goverment.

by high5 on Fri Jun 17th, 2005 at 02:44:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Great Post! (none / 0)

This is a terrific example of differing cross-cultural perceptions:

"As for our citizen registry amounting to a 'police state': I think it's much more of a 'police state' to have to register your political affiliation as is the case in the US."

From the American viewpoint, registering your party is almost meaningless, because you're not REQUIRED to register it (you can be unaffiliated) and can change it any time you want. It's only used to determine which primary you vote in, and not even that in many situations. While some people are very partisan and stick with one party through thick and thin, others move back and forth so they can vote in the primary of interest.

Our voting system is set up as it is for several reasons. First, our Federal system means that there is a lot of control residing in the individual states, so there is no nationwide method of voting. For historical reasons, some places like one kind of voting and others like another. Many places use optical readers which work well and meet the requirements of accuracy and re-countability. The places that are in the news are mostly inner city areas, and the fiascos in 2004 were mostly because of a huge jump in the number of voters.

For most people in the US the voting system works well. There are big problems in a few places, and a lot of noise about those few places.

Incidently, our towns DO maintain a list of the population (except transients) as part of the census. So we're not really as anonymous as some people like to think. Whether we live in more or less of a police state is an interesting question, as things have changed pretty radically in the last couple of years...

by asdf on Fri Jun 17th, 2005 at 06:56:57 AM EST

A look at the Swedish political system | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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