De politiska partierna

The elections were last Sunday for local and national government. I am a bit late to post this, but I only now have time to blog. In my samhållkunskap or social studies class we discussed the political parties, and I decided to translate my class notes to gain a broader understanding of the elections. Swedes get really involved in the election. My friends at school had discussions about the election. When I read the newspaper at breakfast, most of the newspaper content centered around elections. People tried to pass out literature and pins to me before the elections, and two days before the election two young volunteers from the socialdemokraterna party tried to bribe me and other classmates with bullar/a bread roll. Some students seemed annoyed with this attempt to gain supporters and future voters, others saw this as an opportunity to get some free food if they hadn’t eaten breakfast/frukost. 

Compared to US elections, the opposing parties were much more civil to one another during the campaign and with campaign ads. It didn’t seem that as much money was being spent on the campaigns compared to the enormous amount spend during 2008 presidential election, as well as gubernatorial or congressional elections.

Unlike in the US, with two major parties, Sweden has seven major parties currently. The major parties have formed alliances with closely related parties in an attempt to have more influence.

Alliansen: Group of the four center-right parties (This alliance has been in the majority since 2006). 

-Centerpartiet: This is traditionally the party of rural Sweden. Their main concerns are with agriculture, rural areas, and environmental issues. They are considered the center-right environmental party. They oppose nuclear power plants.

-Folkpartiet: The People’s Party believes in “social responsibility without socialism.” They believe in a mixed economy, not entirely controlled by the government or the private sector which will help support the population. They support using nuclear means to produce energy. They also believe the Sweden should go with NATO.

-Kristdemokraterna: This is the party traditionally supported by those who participate within church groups. They have several main goals including improving elderly care, lowering taxes, decreasing regulations on companies, and they feel that issues concerning the family are of great importance. They feel it necessary to discuss abortion rights and whether homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children.

-Moderaterna: The Moderate party has goals to lower taxes to help stimulate the economy. They believe in a more free market approach to governing. They feel personal freedoms are important. They support same sex marriage, as well as membership within the EU.  They feel they should postpone any involvement within NATO. Fredrik Reinfeldt belongs to this party, and is the prime minister, and was re-elected during this election.

De Rödgröna (Red Green)- Alliance of red, or social democratic parties and green/environmental parties

-Vänsterpartiet (Left Party):This party has strong socialist and feminist stances. The party hopes to dissolve any differences within the economy and between men and women. The party is not a supporter of grades in school. They want Sweden to leave the European Union. 

-Socialdemokraterna: This party also wants to work to iron out any economic problems. They support social welfare programs supported mostly by progressive taxation (amount depends on income). They want Sweden to be active within the EU. They support grading students. They are interesting in setting up a free dental care program.

-Miljöpartiet (Environmental Party): Their focus is on environmental awareness, protection, and developing new technologies that are better for the environment. They feel these are cornerstones for their political ideology. They believe that working to create a greener Sweden will help the economy by providing more jobs. They hope to reduce fossil fuels by using more renewable energy, implementing more trains, and reducing the dependence people have on cars.

There are also minority parties, these are just three of many:

-Sverigedemokraterna: The Swedish Democrats are an extreme right wing group in Sweden, but still not as extreme as the extreme right-wingers in US such as the Tea Party members. They have many conservative stances. They feel that Sweden is allowing too many immigrants into the country which will jeopardize the Swedish culture. They are opposed to a multicultural Sweden, and if there must be immigrants, they should quickly adapt to the Swedish culture. They feel there should be harsher laws and prison sentences. They also feel like there needs to be a return of the nuclear family. People belonging to this group may attend conservative churches. In the recent election last week, 4% of Swedes voted for this party, allowing representation (20 members) within parliament. This angered and disappointed many, who feel this party is racist and in the past were some ties with Nazi organizations.

-Feministiskt Initiativ: They hope to prevent and further dissolve any inequality between men and women. They hope that parents will spend equal time with children. They also work to provide rights for LGBT people.

-Piratpartiet: In addition to being a proponent of having there be fewer restrictions when downloading from the internet, they hope to increase security on the internet. They feel in the information age, a new sort of leadership is necessary. Their key issues are with personal privacy, patents, copyrights, and the best way to handle information on and off the web.

It was interesting for me to realize that though Sweden is divided into right and left parties, compared to the United States, Sweden is much more liberal. If the political groups could be compared, the conservative parties in Sweden are still more liberal in many ways than the conservatives in the USA. This is because Sweden has traditionally been considered a welfare state.

The results of the election were partly unsurprising, but also a bit unexpected. The election took place last Sunday, but my peers who could vote said that people could vote not just on a single day, but throughout a period of time. No registration was needed and turnout out is generally about 80%. You have to be 18 to vote. The results were given, and Reinfeldt will continue to be prime minister, as a member of the Moderate party. Sweden has proportional voting. Depending on percentages different parties receive of the vote, they get a certain number of seats in parliament. Since Sweden is divided into two alliances, the Alliansen group/center-right group received 173 votes, the Rödgröna/Red Green group or left leaning group received 156 seats, and surprisingly the very conservative Swedish Democrats received 20 seats. Many people hope that they won’t have much influence. There is some turmoil right now because the parties in Alliansen are lacking two seats that would make them the overall majority. This wasn’t an issue before the very conservative Swedish Democrats gained seats during this election.  It is not decided what will happen, and I am not entirely sure I understand everything, but it was helpful to look up the political groups so I have a larger understanding when I watch the news or hear my peers or host parents talking about politics.