Riksdag

Coordinates: 59°19′39″N 18°04′03″E / 59.32750°N 18.06750°E / 59.32750; 18.06750
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Riksdag of Sweden

Sveriges riksdag
Government
(103)
  Moderate Party (68)
  Christian Democrats (19)
  Liberals (16)

Confidence and supply (73)

  Sweden Democrats (72)
  Independent (1)[1]

Opposition (173)

  Social Democrats (106)
  Left Party (24)
  Centre Party (24)
  Green Party (18)
  Independent (1)[2]
Elections
On or before 13 September 2026
Meeting place
Parliament House, Stockholm
Parliament House
Helgeandsholmen
Stockholm, 100 12
Sweden
Website
riksdagen.se
Footnotes
The debating chamber.

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 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 the central parts 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 Old Parliament House on Riddarholmen was the seat of the Riksdag from 1833 to 1905.
Kulturhuset at Sergels torg served as a temporary seat for the Riksdag, from 1971 to 1983, while the Riksdag building on Helgeandsholmen
underwent renovation.

The Swedish word riksdag, in definite form riksdagen, is a general term for "

genitive of rike, referring to royal power, and dag, meaning diet or conference; the German word Reichstag and the Danish Rigsdag are cognate.[11] The Oxford English Dictionary traces English use of the term "Riksdag" in reference to the Swedish assembly back to 1855.[11]

History

Historical distribution of seats in the Swedish Riksdag 1902–2018.

The roots of the modern Riksdag can be found in a 1435 meeting in the city of

parliamentary principles
were established in the political system in Sweden, in 1917.

On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a

industrial revolution
, was no longer able to provide representation for large segments of the population.

By an amendment to the

unicameral
assembly with 350 seats. The following general election to the unicameral Riksdag in 1973 gave the Government the support of only 175 members, while the opposition could mobilize an equal force of 175 members. In a number of cases a tied vote ensued, and the final decision had to be determined by lot. To avoid any recurrence of this unstable situation, the number of seats in the Riksdag was reduced to 349, from 1976 onwards.

Powers and structure

The Riksdag performs the normal functions of a

Monarch of Sweden
and given to the Speaker of the Riksdag. To make changes to the Constitution under the new Instrument of Government, amendments must be approved twice, in two successive electoral periods with a regular general election held in between.

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]

The former second chamber, nowadays used for committee meetings
The Riksdag building exterior, from the west, at night

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

vote of no confidence against any single cabinet minister (Swedish
: statsråd), thus forcing a resignation. To succeed, a vote of no confidence must be supported by an absolute majority (175 members) or it has failed.

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

green Red-Greens and the conservative/liberal Alliance. The latter—consisting of the Moderate Party, Liberals, Centre Party, and Christian Democrats—governed Sweden from 2006 through most of 2014 (after 2010 through a minority government). The Red-Greens combination disbanded on 26 October 2010 but continued to be considered the main opposition until the 2014 election, following which the Social Democrats and the Green Party formed a government with support from the Left Party.[20]

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]

Interior of the Riksdag building.
The second chamber.
Current party representation in the Riksdag[22]
Party Leaders Seats Seat share (%)
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

Mint on Mynttorget
Square.

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

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party1,964,47430.33107+7
Sweden Democrats1,330,32520.5473+11
Moderate Party1,237,42819.1068−2
Left Party437,0506.7524−4
Centre Party434,9456.7124−7
Christian Democrats345,7125.3419−3
Green Party329,2425.0818+2
Liberals298,5424.6116−4
Nuance Party28,3520.440New
Alternative for Sweden16,6460.2600
Citizens' Coalition12,8820.2000
Pirate Party9,1350.1400
Humanist Democracy6,0770.090New
Christian Values Party5,9830.0900
Knapptryckarna5,4930.080New
Feminist Initiative3,1570.0500
Independent Rural Party2,2150.0300
Direct Democrats1,7550.0300
Climate Alliance1,7020.030New
Unity1,2340.0200
Communist Party of Sweden1,1810.0200
64 other parties (fewer than 1,000 votes)4,2640.0700
Total6,477,794100.003490
Valid votes6,477,79498.93
Invalid/blank votes69,8311.07
Total votes6,547,625100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,775,39084.21
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)

  VPK/V
  S
  MP
  B/C
  FP/L
  M
  KDS/KD
  ND
  SD
  MD
1948
8 112 30 57 23
1952
5 110 26 58 31
1956
6 106 19 58 42
1958
5 111 32 38 45
1960
5 114 34 40 39
1964
8 113 35 43 33 1
1968
3 125 39 34 32
1970
17 163 71 58 41
1973
19 156 90 34 51
1976
17 152 86 39 55
1979
20 154 64 38 73
1982
20 166 56 21 86
1985
19 159 43 51 76 1
1988
21 156 20 42 44 66
1991
16 138 31 33 80 26 25
1994
22 161 18 27 26 80 15
1998
43 131 16 18 17 82 42
2002
30 144 17 22 48 55 33
2006
22 130 19 29 28 97 24
2010
19 112 25 23 24 107 19 20
2014
21 113 25 22 19 84 16 49
2018
28 100 16 31 20 70 22 62
2022
24 107 18 24 16 68 19 73

See also

References

  1. ^ Dante Thomsen (1 May 2023). "En gräns har passerats, jag lämnar Sverigedemokraterna". SVT Nyheter. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  2. SVT Nyheter
    . Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  3. ^ Candidates require 5% of their party's vote total in their constituency in order to override the default party-list order
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Instrument of Government, as of 2012. Retrieved on 16 November 2012. Archived 8 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ The Riksdag Act, as of 2012. Retrieved on 16 November 2012. Archived 1 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. .
  8. .
  9. ^ a b "Riksdag". Nationalencyklopedin. 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  10. . Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Riksdag, n.". Oxford English Dictionary. June 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  12. ^ riksdagen.se
  13. S2CID 147534635
    .
  14. ^ The Swedish Constitution, Riksdagen Archived 10 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "The 15 parliamentary committees". Sveriges Riksdag / The Swedish Parliament. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  16. ^ Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Ledamöter & partier". riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "Hansson, Jenny (2008). De Folkvaldas Livsvillkor. Umea: Umea University" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2009.
  19. ^ Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Forming a government". www.riksdagen.se. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Vi accepterar inte att Sveriges framtid, jobben och klimatet sätts på spel". Regeringskansliet (in Swedish). 26 August 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  21. ^ Sweden, Radio (22 March 2019). "Christian Democrats willing to talk to all parties, including Sweden Democrats". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Ledamöter & partier". riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Riksdag. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  23. ^ a b Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Elections to the Riksdag". www.riksdagen.se. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  24. ^ See e.g.: SOU 2008:125 En reformerad grundlag (Constitutional Reform), Prime Ministers Office.
  25. ^ "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

External links

59°19′39″N 18°04′03″E / 59.32750°N 18.06750°E / 59.32750; 18.06750