Riksdag
Riksdag of Sweden Sveriges riksdag | |
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(C) since 24 September 2018 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 349 |
Political groups | Government (103)
Opposition (173)
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Elections | |
modified Sainte-Laguë method) with a 4% election threshold[4] in constituencies based upon the counties of Sweden | |
Last election | 11 September 2022 |
Next election | On or before 13 September 2026 |
Meeting place | |
Parliament House Helgeandsholmen Stockholm, 100 12 Sweden | |
Website | |
riksdagen | |
Footnotes | |
The Riksdag (Swedish: [ˈrɪ̌ksdɑː(ɡ)] , lit. transl. "diet of the realm"; also Swedish: riksdagen [ˈrɪ̌ksdan] or Sveriges riksdag [ˈsvæ̌rjɛs ˈrɪ̌ksdɑː(ɡ)] ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (riksdagsledamöter), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, fixed four-year terms. The 2022 Swedish general election is the most recent general election.
The constitutional mandates of the Riksdag are enumerated in the Instrument of Government (Regeringsformen), and its internal workings are specified in greater detail in the Riksdag Act (Riksdagsordningen).[5][6] The seat of the Riksdag is at Parliament House (Riksdagshuset), on the island of Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm, in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm. The Riksdag has its institutional roots in the feudal Riksdag of the Estates, traditionally thought to have first assembled in Arboga in 1435. In 1866, following reforms of the 1809 Instrument of Government, that body was transformed into a bicameral legislature with an upper chamber (första kammaren) and a lower chamber (andra kammaren).
Name
The Swedish word riksdag, in definite form riksdagen, is a general term for "
History
The roots of the modern Riksdag can be found in a 1435 meeting in the city of
On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a
By an amendment to the
Powers and structure
The Riksdag performs the normal functions of a
There are 15 parliamentary committees in the Riksdag.[15]
Membership
As of September 2022, 163 members, or 46.7% of the 349 members are women. Five parties have a majority representation of female MPs as of 2022: the Left Party (17 of 24, 70.8%), the Green Party (12 of 18, 66.7%), the Liberals (9 of 16, 56.3%), the Center Party (13 of 24, 54.2%), and the Social Democratic Party (55 of 107, 51.4%). The party with the lowest share of female MPs is the Sweden Democrats (18 of 73, 24.7%).[16]
Members of the Riksdag are full-time legislators with a salary of 71 500 SEK (around $6,300) per month.[17]
According to a survey investigation by the sociologist Jenny Hansson, Members of the Riksdag have an average work week of 66 hours, including side responsibilities. Hansson's investigation further reports that the average member sleeps 6.5 hours per night.[18]
Presidium
The presidium consists of a speaker and three deputy speakers. They are elected for a 4-year term. The Speaker is not allowed to vote, but the three deputies are allowed to vote.
Government
The speaker of the Riksdag nominates a Prime Minister (Swedish: statsminister, literally minister of state) after holding talks with leaders of the various party groups in the Riksdag. The nomination is then put to a vote. The nomination is rejected (meaning the Speaker must find a new nominee) only if an absolute majority of the members (175 members) vote "no"; otherwise, it is confirmed. This means the Riksdag can consent to a Prime Minister without casting any "yes" votes.
After being elected the Prime Minister appoints the cabinet ministers and announces them to the Riksdag. The new Government takes office at a special council held at the Royal Palace before the Monarch, at which the Speaker of the Riksdag formally announces to the Monarch that the Riksdag has elected a new Prime Minister and that the Prime Minister has chosen his cabinet ministers.
The Riksdag can cast a
If a vote of no confidence is cast against the Prime Minister this means the entire government is rejected. A losing government has one week to call for a general election or else the procedure of nominating a new Prime Minister starts anew.[19]
Parties
No party has won a single majority in the Riksdag since 1968. Political parties with similar agendas consequently cooperate on several issues, forming coalition governments or other formalized alliances.
Two major blocs existed in parliament until 2019, the
In 2019, after the 2018 election in which neither bloc won a majority of seats, the Social Democrats and Green Party formed a government with support from the Liberals and Centre Party, breaking the center-right Alliance. In March 2019, the Christian Democrats and Moderate Party signaled a willingness to talk with the Sweden Democrats.[21]
Party | Leaders | Seats | Seat share (%) | |
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Social Democratic Party | Magdalena Andersson | 107 | 30.7 | |
Sweden Democrats | Jimmie Åkesson | 73 | 20.9 | |
Moderate Party | Ulf Kristersson | 68 | 19.5 | |
Left Party | Nooshi Dadgostar | 24 | 6.9 | |
Centre Party | Muharrem Demirok | 24 | 6.9 | |
Christian Democrats | Ebba Busch | 19 | 5.4 | |
Green Party | Märta Stenevi / Daniel Helldén | 18 | 5.2 | |
Liberals | Johan Pehrson | 16 | 4.6 | |
Total | 349 | 100 |
Elections
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 and have at one point been registered residents are eligible to vote. To stand for election, a candidate must be eligible to vote and be nominated by a political party. 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.[23]
Constituencies and national apportionment of seats
The electoral system in Sweden is proportional. Of the 349 seats in the unicameral Riksdag, 310 are fixed constituency seats allocated to 29 multi-member constituencies in relation to the number of people entitled to vote in each constituency. The remaining 39 adjustment seats are used to correct the deviations from proportional national distribution that may arise when allocating the fixed constituency seats. There is a constraint in the system that means that only a party that has received at least four per cent of the votes in the whole country participates in the distribution of seats. However, a party that has received at least twelve per cent of the votes in a constituency participates in the distribution of the fixed constituency seats in that constituency.[24][23]
2022 election results
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swedish Social Democratic Party | 1,964,474 | 30.33 | 107 | +7 | |
Sweden Democrats | 1,330,325 | 20.54 | 73 | +11 | |
Moderate Party | 1,237,428 | 19.10 | 68 | −2 | |
Left Party | 437,050 | 6.75 | 24 | −4 | |
Centre Party | 434,945 | 6.71 | 24 | −7 | |
Christian Democrats | 345,712 | 5.34 | 19 | −3 | |
Green Party | 329,242 | 5.08 | 18 | +2 | |
Liberals | 298,542 | 4.61 | 16 | −4 | |
Nuance Party | 28,352 | 0.44 | 0 | New | |
Alternative for Sweden | 16,646 | 0.26 | 0 | 0 | |
Citizens' Coalition | 12,882 | 0.20 | 0 | 0 | |
Pirate Party | 9,135 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | |
Humanist Democracy | 6,077 | 0.09 | 0 | New | |
Christian Values Party | 5,983 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | |
Knapptryckarna | 5,493 | 0.08 | 0 | New | |
Feminist Initiative | 3,157 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent Rural Party | 2,215 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
Direct Democrats | 1,755 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
Climate Alliance | 1,702 | 0.03 | 0 | New | |
Unity | 1,234 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
Communist Party of Sweden | 1,181 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
64 other parties (fewer than 1,000 votes) | 4,264 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 6,477,794 | 100.00 | 349 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 6,477,794 | 98.93 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 69,831 | 1.07 | |||
Total votes | 6,547,625 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,775,390 | 84.21 | |||
Source: Sweden's Election Authority[25] |
Alliance | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kristersson's Bloc (M+SD+KD+L) | 3,212,007 | 49.59 | 176 | +2 | ||
Andersson's Bloc (S+MP+V+C) |
3,165,711 | 48.87 | 173 | −2 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 69,831 | – | – | – | ||
Total | 6,547,625 | 100 | 349 | 0 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 7,495,936 | 87.18 | – | – | ||
Source: VAL |
Historical composition of the Riksdag
Swedish parliamentary election (since 1948)
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1956 |
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1973 |
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1976 |
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1979 |
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1982 |
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1985 |
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1988 |
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1991 |
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1994 |
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2002 |
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2006 |
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2010 |
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2014 |
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2018 |
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2022 |
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See also
References
- ^ Dante Thomsen (1 May 2023). "En gräns har passerats, jag lämnar Sverigedemokraterna". SVT Nyheter. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- SVT Nyheter. Archivedfrom the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ Candidates require 5% of their party's vote total in their constituency in order to override the default party-list order
- ^ A party may earn seats even if they fail to reach 4% of the vote nationally if they obtain 12% of the vote in a given constituency
- ^ Instrument of Government, as of 2012. Retrieved on 16 November 2012. Archived 8 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Riksdag Act, as of 2012. Retrieved on 16 November 2012. Archived 1 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-679-10079-2.
- ISBN 91-1-775052-0.
- ^ a b "Riksdag". Nationalencyklopedin. 2014. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- ISBN 978-1134119981. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Riksdag, n.". Oxford English Dictionary. June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- ^ "riksdagen.se". Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- S2CID 147534635.
- ^ The Swedish Constitution, Riksdagen Archived 10 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The 15 parliamentary committees". Sveriges Riksdag / The Swedish Parliament. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Ledamöter & partier". riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
- ^ Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Frågor & svar samt statistik över ledamöternas arvoden". www.riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- ^ "Hansson, Jenny (2008). De Folkvaldas Livsvillkor. Umea: Umea University" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2009.
- ^ Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Forming a government". www.riksdagen.se. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ "Vi accepterar inte att Sveriges framtid, jobben och klimatet sätts på spel". Regeringskansliet (in Swedish). 26 August 2017. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ Sweden, Radio (22 March 2019). "Christian Democrats willing to talk to all parties, including Sweden Democrats". Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "Ledamöter & partier". riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Riksdag. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ a b Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Elections to the Riksdag". www.riksdagen.se. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ See e.g.: SOU 2008:125 En reformerad grundlag (Constitutional Reform) Archived 5 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Prime Ministers Office.
- ^ "Val till riksdagen – Slutligt valresultat – Riket". Valmyndigheten (in Swedish). 18 September 2022. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
Bibliography
- Larsson, Torbjörn; Bäck, Henry (2008). Governing and Governance in Sweden. Lund: ISBN 978-91-44-03682-3.
- Petersson, Olof (2010). Den offentliga makten (in Swedish). Stockholm: SNS Förlag. ISBN 978-91-86203-66-5.
External links
- The Riksdag – official site
- The history of the Riksdag