Five things to know about Sweden’s election
Sweden votes on Sunday in what looks set to be a close election between the incumbent left and an unprecedented alliance between the right and the far right. Here are five things to know about the election.
– NATO –
For two centuries, Sweden’s policy was to stay out of military alliances.
But public and political support for joining NATO soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to the country applying for membership in mid-May along with neighboring Finland.
Despite assurances that the countries would be welcomed into the alliance “with open arms”, they have faced intense opposition from Turkey, which accuses the Nordic countries of providing a haven for terrorist groups.
An agreement was reached between the three countries in June, which included provisions on extradition management and information sharing.
All parties except the left and the Greens support membership but the incoming government will have to deal with strained relations with Ankara, which has insisted it can still block the countries’ entry – which requires ratification by all NATO member states – if it feels Sweden and Finland does not keep what it promises.
– Greta effect? –
Two weeks before Sweden’s last election in 2018, 15-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg began sitting alone outside Stockholm’s Riksdag building with her now iconic sign “School strike for the climate”.
Her protest urged politicians to bring Swedish emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Although it attracted little attention at first, her protest soon sparked a global movement, leading Thunberg to travel the world to appeal to — and often vilify — world leaders.
Thunberg has spoken at the UN, been named TIME person of the year and even tipped as the favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
But heading into this year’s Swedish election, climate change has taken a back seat, as voters are more concerned about law and order amid rising gang violence and energy politics with sky-high gas and electricity prices.
In a tweet marking four years since her strike began, Thunberg lamented that “the climate crisis is still absent from the debate.”
– Covid pandemic –
Sweden’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic has also been noticeably absent in the election campaign.
The country made headlines when it refused to implement draconian measures as other countries around the world went into lockdown.
Despite a sky-high death toll as the virus increased in nursing homes, Swedish authorities chose to keep society relatively open, with the argument that a shutdown would be more harmful to public health than the virus.
Instead, it imposed voluntary recommendations and, as the pandemic continued, limits on public gatherings and bar and restaurant opening hours. Face masks were only recommended in certain situations.
Its Covid death toll of 1,901 deaths per million at the start of September was below the EU average of 2,529 per million, according to Our World in Data.
“Most people are happy with the strategy,” writer and journalist Jens Liljestrand told AFP, explaining the lack of debate on the topic in the campaign.
The pandemic “has left no trace, it’s like a collective blackout,” he said.
– Electoral system –
Sweden’s unicameral parliament, the Riksdag, has 349 seats and is the country’s highest decision-making body.
An election to the Riksdag is held every four years, and to enter the Riksdag parties must collect at least four percent of the votes.
The current parties are, in order of number of mandates, the governing center Social Democrats, the conservative Moderates, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, the Center Party, the Liberals, the Left Party, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and the Green Party.
After an election, the Speaker nominates the prime ministerial candidate they believe is most likely to be supported by Parliament, which MPs then vote on.
Under the Swedish system, a candidate must be tolerated by the Riksdag to be elected, which means they can take office as long as a majority does not vote against them.
While the Social Democrats held on to government without interruption for four decades until the 1970s, today’s more fragmented political landscape means that governments in recent decades have had to rely on alliances and coalitions to secure power.
– School children to the ballot boxes –
In Sweden, students over the age of 13 can vote in a nationwide “school election” that aims to increase awareness of voting and politics.
Participating schools follow the real election campaign, with students voting in school for the actual parties in a simulation of the official election.
This year, 1,580 schools have signed up to the initiative, organized by the state agency for youth and civil society, and over half a million students are expected to vote.
Students will even have their own Election Day meeting where they will be able to watch their results tick in live on Monday, the day after the official vote.
In the last school election in 2018, the country’s teenagers showed a preference for the conservative Moderates, who received 21.23 percent of their votes, followed by the center-left Social Democrats with 19.53 percent and the far-right Sweden Democrats with 15.5 percent.
AFP