Elections in Sweden – 9th of September
By: V-Dem Staff
Sep 12, 2018
General elections in Sweden are held on the second Sunday of September every four years. According to this tradition, elections to the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag) and to the municipal- and county councils took place last Sunday, on the 9th of September 2018. Swedish election results: the ruling centre-left Social Democrats had the largest share of votes with a 28,4 percent share with the opposition centre-right Moderates taking 19,8 percent. The Sweden Democrats party came in third with a 17,6 percent vote share.
Next year will mark the centenary of Swedish democracy since 1919 was the year when the Riksdag enacted universal suffrage for men and women. This is illustrated in this week’s graph. Furthermore, the graph also demonstrates how election turnout has changed in Sweden since the beginning of the 20th century. The first election where both men and women were allowed to cast their vote at the ballots occurred in 1921 and voter turnout in Sweden has been relatively high and stable since the 1970s. However, it is also clear that it took several years after Swedish citizens were given the right to vote until the electoral turnout rates increased to present levels.
If you are interested in learning more about Sweden, or suffrage and election turnout in other countries, use our online analysis tool at v-dem.net.
