| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Riksdagen / Parliament |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
19 September 2010 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
There were 349 seats at stake in the 2010 parliamentary elections. The media focused on whether Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's government would be the first from the centre-right to be returned to power since Sweden introduced universal suffrage for men and women in 1921.
In the previous elections (September 2006), the Alliance for Sweden, which comprised four opposition centre-right parties - the Moderate Party (97 seats), the Centre Party (CP, 29), the Liberal Party (FP, 28) and the Christian Democratic Party (KD, 24) - won a total of 178 seats. Prime Minister Göran Persson's Social Democratic Party (SAP) - which had ruled the country for most of the period since 1932 - took 130 seats. The Left Party (VP) and the Green Party (Mpg) - which had voted with the outgoing SAP minority government - took 22 and 19 seats respectively. Prime Minister Persson conceded defeat. Mr. Reinfeldt (Moderate Party), who was the Alliance for Sweden's only candidate for premier, formed a coalition government in October.
In the next four years, Prime Minister Reinfeldt pushed through 70 billion kronor (US$ 10 billion) in income-tax cuts and promised to lower taxes on incomes and pensions by a further 25 billion kronor through 2014. The country's economy shrank by 5.1 per cent in 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis but was expected to expand by 4.5 per cent in 2010, the best performance among the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU). However, the unemployment rate stood at 7.4 per cent - higher than when Mr. Reinfeldt came to power.
In the 2010 elections, Prime Minister Reinfeldt's four-party coalition was challenged by the SAP and other centre-left parties as well as the Sweden Democrats (SD), a far-right party formed in 1988.
Prime Minister Reinfeldt urged voters to keep the SD out of parliament. He said he wanted Sweden be more involved in the EU but promised not to hold a new referendum on the euro (which had been rejected in a 2003 referendum). FP leader and Minister of Education Jan Björklund proposed to open "elite classes" in high schools so as to enable more pupils to pursue upper secondary education. The Centre Party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson, positioned itself as the party of entrepreneurs and ecologists of the right. KD leader Göran Hägglund promised to create more jobs and to raise the minimum age of retirement from 67 to 70.
The SAP leader, Ms. Mona Sahlin, who had her eye on becoming Sweden's first female prime minister, criticized the government's tax-cut policies. She argued that the government was dismantling the welfare system step by step and widening the gap between rich and poor, a view shared by VP leader Lars Ohly. Ms. Sahlin was said to be unpopular because of an incident in the 1990s in which she was criticized for using a professional credit card for private purchases. On the other hand, the Mpg, co-led by Mr. Peter Eriksson and Ms. Maria Wetterstrand, gained ground on the back of Ms. Wetterstrand's popularity. She is known for her "liberal-green" policies. In addition to its traditional environmental agenda, the Mpg promised to privatize some public enterprises. Mr. Eriksson said the Mpg was open to cooperation with centre-right parties.
The SD argued that Islam and Muslims were "un-Swedish" and promised to reduce immigration by as much as 90 per cent. It portrayed immigration as an economic burden on the welfare system. SD leader Jimmie Aakesson pledged to introduce tougher citizenship requirements and stiffer penalties for crime, including obligatory expulsion of all foreigners committing serious crimes. He also promised to raise spending on the elderly.
All the main parties criticized the SD's anti-immigration platform and urged voters not support it. They also stated they would not cooperate with the SD. Sweden has a long tradition of accepting immigrants and refugees, and they currently account for 14 per cent of the country's 9.4 million inhabitants.
In all, 84.63 per cent of the 7.1 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
The four parties in Mr. Reinfeldt's government won a total of 173 seats, two seats short of a majority. The SAP recorded its worst result since its inception in 1914, taking 112 seats. Conversely, the SD fared well and entered parliament for the first time with 20 seats. The Mpg took 25 seats - up from 19 in 2006 - while the FP took 19.
Because few of the SD candidates elected were women (3 out of 20, or 15%), the percentage of women parliamentarians fell for the first time since 1991, from 162 (46.42%) in 2006 to 157 (44.99%) in 2010.
On 23 September, Prime Minister Reinfeldt announced that he would form a minority government in an enhanced coalition with the Mpg. He became the first centre-right leader since 1921 to be returned to government after serving a full term.
On 4 October, the newly elected Parliament held its first session and re-elected Mr. Per Westerberg of the Moderate Party as its Speaker. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 19 September 2010 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
7'123'651
6'028'682 (84.63%)
68'274
5'960'408 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Social Democratic Party (SAP) |
|
1'827'497 |
|
|
30.66 |
|
|
| Moderate Party (M) |
|
1'791'766 |
|
|
30.06 |
|
|
| Green Party (Mpg) |
|
437'435 |
|
|
7.34 |
|
|
| Liberal Party (FP) |
|
420'524 |
|
|
7.06 |
|
|
| Center Party |
|
390'804 |
|
|
6.56 |
|
|
| Sweden Democrats (SD) |
|
339'610 |
|
|
5.70 |
|
|
| Left Party (VP) |
|
334'053 |
|
|
5.60 |
|
|
| Christian Democrats (KD) |
|
333'696 |
|
|
5.60 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Gain/Loss |
Number of women |
|
|
| Social Democratic Party (SAP) |
112
|
-18 |
54 |
|
|
| Moderate Party (M) |
107
|
10 |
51 |
|
|
| Green Party (Mpg) |
25
|
6 |
14 |
|
|
| Liberal Party (FP) |
24
|
-4 |
10 |
|
|
| Center Party |
23
|
-6 |
7 |
|
|
| Sweden Democrats (SD) |
20
|
20 |
3 |
|
|
| Left Party (VP) |
19
|
-3 |
11 |
|
|
| Christian Democrats (KD) |
19
|
-5 |
7 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
192
157
44.99%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
Below 20 years
21 to 30 years
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
Over 70 years
|
1
25
71
108
109
33
2
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Others |
153 |
| Education profession |
29 |
| Journalism, broadcasting, media |
17 |
| Economist |
15 |
| Social worker |
15 |
| Nursing |
14 |
| Legal profession |
14 |
| Trade union official |
14 |
| Finance, management or business |
13 |
| Civil service and local authority administration |
11 |
| Home-maker, care-taker |
9 |
| Agriculture/farming |
8 |
| Armed services/Police |
7 |
| Architect, surveyor, engineer |
5 |
| Clerical, secretarial, administration |
5 |
| Research/sciences |
4 |
| Political party official |
4 |
| Civil society activity |
4 |
| Entrepreneur |
3 |
| IT/technology |
3 |
| Physician, dentist |
2 |
|
| Comments |
Sources:
- Parliament (07.10.2010, 22.03.2011, 26.01.2012, 01.01.2014)
- http://www.val.se/val/val2010/slutresultat/R/rike/index.html
- http://www.val.se/val/val2010/alkon/R/rike/alderkon.html
- http://www.val.se/in_english/index.html |
|
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
