At stake in this election:   

• The 349 seats in the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: King Carl XVI GUSTAF (since 15 September 1973)[i]
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Fredrik REINFELDT (since 5 October 2006)[ii]
• Assembly: Sweden has a unicameral Parliament, called the Riksdag.[iii] The Riksdag has 349 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The King is hereditary
• The Prime Minister, after legislative elections, is usually the leader of the majority party or coalition
• In the Parliament, the 349 members are elected by popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms[iv]**

Election Note:

• The center-right “Alliance” coalition is seeking a third-consecutive term in office. It won parliamentary elections in 2006 and 2010. However, many observers (and polls) have estimated that the center-left “Red-Greens” parties will prevail on the 14 September 2014 election day.

Political entities in this electoral race:

• The Social Democratic Party (S) / Arbetarepartiet Socialdemokraterna
  • Leader: Stefan LÖFVEN
  • Seats won in last election: 112
• The Moderate Party (M) / Moderata samlingspartiet
  • Leader: Fredrik REINFELDT
  • Seats won in last election: 107
• The Centre Party (C) / Centerpartiet
  • Leader: Annie LÖÖF
  • Seats won in last election: 23
• The Liberal  Party (FP)/ Folkpartiet liberalerna
  • Leader: Jan BJÖRKLUND
  • Seats won in last election: 24
• The Christian Democrats (KD)/ Kristdemokraterna
  • Leader: Göran HÄGGLUND
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• The Left Party (V) / Vänsterpartiet
  • Leader: Jonas SJÖSTEDT
  • Seats won in last election: 19
• The Green Party (MP)/ Miljöpartiet de Gröna
  • Leader: Gustav FRIDOLIN and Åsa ROMSON
  • Seats won in last election: 25
• The Pirate Party (PP)/ Piratpartiet
  • Leader: Anna TROBERG
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• The Sweden Democrats (SD)/ Sverigedemokraterna
  • Leader:  Jimmie ÅKESSON
  • Seats won in last election: 20
• Feminist Initative (FI)/ Feministiskt initiativ
  • Leader:  Gudrun SCHYMAN
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Last election:

• The last election to the parliament in Sweden was held on 19 September 2010. The election pitted the center-right “Alliance” of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, the Liberal Party, and the Christian Democrats against the opposition center-left “Red-Greens” of the Social Democrats, the Left Party, and the Green Party.  The Alliance received 49.28 percent of the vote for a total of 173 seats in parliament, winning a second consecutive term.[v] The Red-Greens received 43.60 percent of the vote for a total of 156 seats in the parliament.[vi] Voter turnout was at 84.63 percent with over 6 million people participating.[vii] Results can be found here and here.

Population and Voter Registration:

• Population: 9,723,809 (July 2014 est)[viii]
• Registered Voters: 7,297,268 (2014)[ix]

​Gender Data:

·         Female Population:4,853,667 (2014)

·         Is Sweden a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (7 March 1980)

·         Has Sweden ratified CEDAW: Yes (2 July 1980)

·         Gender Quota: No (there are some political parties that have adopted voluntary quotas)

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 152 (following the 2014 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 14 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Sweden a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Sweden ratified CRPD: Yes (15 December 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 1,458,571 (est.)

**310 permanent constituency seats are distributed in 29 multi-member constituencies. Each constituency is assigned seats depending on the number of electors registered in the constituency a certain day prior to the election. District magnitude ranges from two to 38. 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 five 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 adjustment seats (utjämningsmandat) which are distributed only to parties that gain at least four percent of the national vote. These seats are distributed according to each party’s share of the national vote in order to secure a proportional representation in the Parliament for the parties. A comparison is first made between the percentage of seats that a party won through the constituency-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 paper, 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, unless the party has made the choice on its own accord to report all its candidates to the Election Authority and thereby blocked electors from adding names on any ballot paper. The third is a Blank ballot paper, on which a party name may be written in by hand. Election officials are responsible for providing blank ballot papers for all elections. Party ballot papers are provided by election officials in polling stations only on the request of a party. Such a request shall be forwarded to an election authority a certain period of time before the election. Name ballot papers, however, are put out by the parties themselves. Parties that have previously obtained more than 1 percent of the votes in at least one of the two most recent parliamentary elections, are entitled to party ballot papers in polling stations on the expense of the state. This applies to parliamentary, municipal and county council elections. 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 percent of the votes in Sweden at one of the two most recent elections to the European Parliament. This, however, applies only to a party that has one list and thereby uses one name ballot paper in the election.