Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: King CARL XVI GUSTAF
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Stefan LOFVEN
• Assembly: Sweden has a unicameral Parliament (Riksdag) with 349 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The Throne is hereditary. The next in line is Crown Princess VICTORIA.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the Parliament (Riksdag), 310 members are elected through a flexible-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 39 members are distributed by proportional representation to serve 4-year terms.***

*** Flexible list seats are distributed in 29 multi-member constituencies. District magnitude ranges from two to 39, depending on population. Electors may choose to vote for a party list as it is presented or cast a preferential vote for an individual candidate. For a candidate to get elected by preferential votes, they must receive at least eight percent of the votes for their party in their constituency. To be awarded a seat, a party must obtain either at least four percent of the votes cast throughout the country or twelve percent of the votes cast in a constituency. The thirty-nine remaining seats are distributed only to parties that gain over four percent of the national vote. These seats are distributed according to each party’s share of the national vote. A comparison is first made between the percentage of seats that a party won through the district-based seats and the national vote. If it is determined that a party's national vote share did not translate into the equivalent amount of seats, they will be rewarded adjustment seats. Parties that only obtained seats by reaching the twelve percent constituency-based threshold, are not awarded additional seats. For all elections there are three types of ballot papers used. The first is a Name ballot papers, which contain a party name and candidate names. Parties provide these ballots which allow an elector to cast a preference vote. The second is a Party ballot paper, which contains a party name but no candidate names. Electors may still write in the name of a preferred candidate on this ballot. The third is a Blank ballot papers, on which a party name may be written in. Election officials are responsible for providing blank ballot papers for all elections . Name ballot papers, however, are put out by the parties themselves. Parties that have previously obtained more than 1% of the votes in the parliamentary election, are entitled to party ballot papers in polling stations.. This applies to parliamentary, municipal and county council elections. The parties must themselves request, a certain period of time before the election, that their ballot papers be put out. For elections to the European Parliament, election officials are responsible for putting out name ballot papers for the parties that have received at least 1% of the votes in Sweden at one of the two most recent elections to the European Parliament.

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Sweden: No