Tommy Donovan
Math
9/22/07
Electoral Voting System of Sweden
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The electoral voting system of Sweden is not a complicated one. The system is
basic and easy to understand. It is not that much different than the math methods used to
find quotas. The system is based off of population and proportions. The more people
that vote for a given party make the proportions increase. A prime minister runs
Sweden’s government although there is still a king of Sweden.
The voters of Sweden vote for the party of their choosing and they can even vote
for a specific candidate. There are elections held for the European Union every five
years, Sweden being part of this union holds its elections on Sundays in June. There are
four types of elections in Sweden, the Riksdag, the municipal council, the county council,
and the European Parliament. The Riksdag is the national parliament of Sweden. It was
formed in 1866 and was a two-chamber legislature. A little more than 100 years later it
was changed into a single-chamber body this allowed the chambers representation to be
proportional. There was a new constitution that was put into effect in 1975; this gave
more power to the speaker of the Riksdag. The municipal councils of Sweden are
basically town or city councils; they are elected like town or city officials and vote on
issues dealing with their specific jurisdiction. The county council like the municipal
council is self controlled. Instead of one town or city the counties consist of more than
one town or city. They vote on subjects as a group of cities rather than individual
cities.(May 8, 2007 http://www.val.se/pdf/electionsinsweden.pdf) The European
Parliament’s purpose is to represent the peoples of Europe interests. There are 27
countries in the European Parliament council and 736 seats total. Sweden holds 18 seats,
which is low compared to Germany, which holds 99 seats.
(http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/parliamentindex_en.htm)(http://www.europarl.europa.e
u/factsheets/1_3_4_en.htm)
In Sweden the right to vote is a privilege that you obtain at the age of 18. You
must also be a registered citizen of Sweden in order to vote. If you want to vote in a
county election or a municipal election you need to be registered in that specific
jurisdiction and be 18 or older. In order to vote you must also be part of what is called
the electoral roll. This is basically a drawing of names of people that are eligible to vote
on the given subject. If there is more than one election going on at the same time then
you are eligible to vote at all the elections. Once you have been chosen for the electoral
poll you receive a voting card in the mail that has the hours of the poll building and the
address. ( May 8, 2007 )
Sweden has both a Prime Minister, who is the head of government, and a king,
who is basically a ceremonial figure. The Prime minister is named Fredrik Reinfeldt and
represents the Moderate Party. He was elected into the Parliament in 1991 and in 2006
he was elected Prime Minister of Sweden. ( 2006 http://www.sweden.gov.se/conten
t/1/c6/07/42/46/911fdb2f.pdf) The king of Sweden is named King Carl Gustaf Folke
Hubertus. His occupation includes things such as opening the Annual Parliament
Sessions and making countrywide visits. (http://www.royalcourt.se/theroyalfamily/h
mkingcarlxvigustaf.4.19fe5e61065eb9aeea80002393.html)
The electoral voting system of Sweden compares to some of the math voting
methods. For instance, Sweden finds a divisor by taking the total number of votes and
based off of the number it receives they can have more or less candidates elected in a
certain party. This is similar to finding the divisor of the population and deciding how
many seats each party can have. By taking the population and dividing it by the divisor
you get a quota and from there you can use a variety of methods such as the Hamilton,
Jefferson, Adams, Webster, or Huntington-Hill to find the number of seats. It is very
similar to how Sweden finds their proportional number of candidates per party.
Sweden has a common voting system. It is easy to comprehend and apply to the
math methods used to determine divisors and quotas from populations. Although that
Sweden has four different types of elections they are all pretty similar in how they
perform. The main difference between them is what people are eligible to vote for them.
The voting system of Sweden is very straightforward and understandable.
Works Cited
http://www.val.se/pdf/electionsinsweden.pdf
http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/07/42/46/911fdb2f.pdf
http://www.royalcourt.se/theroyalfamily/hmkingcarlxvigustaf.4.19fe5e61065eb9aeea800
02393.html
http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/parliament/index_en.htm
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/1_3_4_en.htm