The King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, is the Head of State. His tasks are purely representative and ceremonial according to the Swedish Constitution. Compared to other European monarchies, he doesn’t sign laws, appoint a government or represent the country under international law.
Head of the government is the Prime Minister who appoints the 22 ministers of the cabinet. They aren’t allowed to control the executive organs directly. Therefore the Swedish political system is considered special among democracies.
The government of Sweden works as the driving force in the process of legislative change. In the 2014 elected government, the leader of the oldest and largest political party, Swedish Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterna, participating in the election as Arbetarepartiet-Socialdemokraterna), is the current Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. Due to not winning a majority with 113 mandates in the Riksdag, his party formed a governed coalition with the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de gröna), which had 25 seats. The Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) supported this alliance. The opposition consists to a large extent of the Moderate Party (Moderaterna) with 84 seats, the Centre Party (Centerpartiet), the Liberals (Folkpartiet liberalerna) and the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna). In total, they gained 141 mandates in the Riksdag.
The Swedish Social Democratic Party is the favored party of most Swedish voters, according to actual votes and voting intentions. In the parliamentary election in 2014, they received 31 percent of votes. The second part of the socialist/ green bloc in the parliament, the Green Party, obtained 6.9 percent of votes. The highest share of votes in the conservative/ liberal bloc were won by the Moderate Party, led by Ulf Kristersson, with 23.3 percent. The Centre Party led by Annie Lööf, Jan Björnklund’s Liberals Party and the fourth alliance partner, the Christian Democratic Party, with Ebba Busch Thor as head received less than ten percent of votes respectively. In this election, the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) became the third largest party but because of their anti-immigration orientation they were isolated by the other major parties from exerting influence.
Sametingsval – Sami parliamentary election in Sweden 2017
On May 21, 2017, the Sami parliamentary (Sametinget) election took place. Sametinget elections are held every four years by general vote. Sami inhabitants are eligible to vote if they speak the language and have had or have a parent or grandparent that speaks or spoke a Sami language.
The Sami parliament of Sweden is a representative body for Sami people within the country. It’s located in Kiruna in the province of Lapland and consists of 31 representatives, currently led by Stefan Mikaelsson. The Sametinget does not have power over taxation and cannot make laws. It acts more as an institution that develops and coordinates everything concerning Sami interests and culture.
In the last election, the Hunting and Fishing Party (Jakt- och fiskesamerna) received the most votes, amounting to approximately 29 percent (or 1,469 votes). The Sami country Party (Samelandspartiet/ Sámiid Riikkabellodat) came second, ahead of Guovssonásti with a share of 15.6 percent. The winning party in the Sami parliamentary election owned nine mandates, followed by seven seats in the Sami Parliament for Samelandspartiet. After the 2017 election was completed, Guovssonásti received five mandates.
