Chapter 4 of 13 in Sverige i fokus

The right to vote in Sweden: elections, parties and who makes the laws

Quick answers

Who has the right to vote in Sweden?

Everyone aged 18 or over. In the Riksdag election you must be a Swedish citizen. In the municipal and regional elections it is enough to have been registered as resident in Sweden for a total of three years.

How often are elections held in Sweden?

Elections to the Riksdag, the regions and the municipalities are held every four years. Elections to the European Parliament are held every five years.

Who makes the laws in Sweden?

The Riksdag. The government governs the country and the public authorities carry out the decisions.

How many parties are in the Riksdag?

Eight parties until the 2026 election: C, KD, L, MP, M, S, SD and V.

What is the four per cent threshold?

A party must get at least four per cent of the votes to enter the Riksdag.

The citizenship test (medborgarskapsprovet) is written in Swedish, so learn the Swedish key words in brackets as you read. This page is also available in Swedish: Politiska val och partier.

Chapter 4 of Sverige i fokus is about political elections (val) and parties (partier). The parties have different ideas about how the country should be governed and try to win the people’s support so that their candidates are elected to the Riksdag, the regions, the municipalities or the EU. Anyone can get involved in a party. Here you get the chapter explained in our own words.

When are elections held in Sweden?

Elections to the Riksdag (riksdagen), the regional councils (regionfullmäktige) and the municipal councils (kommunfullmäktige) are held every four years. The three elections are held at the same time. Elections to the European Parliament (EU-parlamentet) are held every five years.

Everyone with the right to vote votes for the party they think has the best policies. The parties put forward candidates for the Riksdag, the regions, the municipalities and the European Parliament. So a voter in Sweden votes in three elections on the same day every four years. Every five years the European Parliament election is added.

Who has the right to vote in Sweden?

Different elections have different rules about who may vote. The basic rule is that you must be 18 or over.

• The Riksdag election (riksdagsvalet): you must be a Swedish citizen.
• The municipal and regional elections (kommun- och regionvalen): you do not need to be a Swedish citizen, but you must have lived in Sweden and been registered as resident (folkbokförd) for a total of three years.
• EU citizens and citizens of the Nordic countries: only need to be registered as resident in Sweden to vote in the municipal and regional elections.
• The European Parliament: EU citizens vote in the country where they are registered as resident.

This is one of the most common things to mix up. Learn the difference between the Riksdag election (citizenship required) and the local elections (three years of registered residence is enough).

An example: a person from a country outside the EU has been registered as resident in Sweden for four years. They may vote in the municipal and regional elections. In the Riksdag election they may vote only once they are a Swedish citizen. A person from Finland who has just moved here and registered as resident may vote in the municipal and regional elections straight away.

What is a referendum?

Sometimes a referendum (folkomröstning) is held on a particular question. It can concern the whole country, a region or a municipality. Referendums in Sweden are advisory (rådgivande). This means the politicians do not have to follow the result.

In 2003 Sweden held a referendum on the euro. The people voted no to replacing the krona, and Sweden kept the Swedish krona.

So a referendum is not the same thing as an election. In an election you choose parties and politicians for four years. In a referendum you answer one single question, for example yes or no to the euro.

How does voting work?

Before the election, everyone with the right to vote receives a voting card (röstkort) by post. The card says which polling station (vallokal) to go to. You can also vote in advance (förtidsrösta) at special places.

In the polling station there are ballot papers (valsedlar) for the different parties. Elections are secret. Everyone votes behind a screen, in a voting booth, so that nobody else can see which party you choose.

The secret ballot is connected to what you read in chapter 2 about free elections. Nobody should be able to threaten or force you to vote a certain way. Nobody can check afterwards what you voted for either. You also have the right not to vote.

What does a political party do?

Political parties bring together people with shared ideas about how society should be governed. They propose solutions and pursue the issues they think are important. This gives voters different alternatives to choose between.

Anyone who wants to can become a member of a party and influence its policies from the inside. It is also possible to start a new party together with others. During the election campaign (valrörelsen) the parties try to convince voters through debates, meetings, political advertising and campaigns. Before elections the parties are often seen on streets and squares, telling voters about their policies.

Which political parties are in the Swedish Riksdag?

Sverige i fokus lists the eight parties in the Riksdag until the 2026 election, in Swedish alphabetical order:

• Centerpartiet (C), the Centre Party
• Kristdemokraterna (KD), the Christian Democrats
• Liberalerna (L), the Liberals
• Miljöpartiet (MP), the Green Party
• Moderaterna (M), the Moderate Party
• Socialdemokraterna (S), the Social Democrats
• Sverigedemokraterna (SD), the Sweden Democrats
• Vänsterpartiet (V), the Left Party

The test will use the Swedish names and abbreviations. In the regional and municipal elections there are often local parties too. They only have policies for their own region or municipality, not for the whole country.

What do proportional elections and the four per cent threshold mean?

Sweden has proportional elections (proportionella val). The parties get seats in the Riksdag, the regional councils and the municipal councils according to their share of the votes. If a party gets twenty per cent of the votes, it gets twenty per cent of the seats. That is why the parties often need to cooperate to get a majority (majoritet) for their proposals.

To enter the Riksdag, a party must get at least four per cent of the votes. The rule is often called the four per cent threshold (fyraprocentsspärren). It exists to stop too many parties from entering the Riksdag. With fewer parties it is easier to create stable majorities.

Who makes the laws in Sweden?

It is the Riksdag that makes the laws (stiftar lagar). This is stated in the Instrument of Government (regeringsformen), one of the fundamental laws: the Riksdag makes laws and the government (regeringen) governs the country. The Riksdag also decides on the state budget.

This is how elections and laws are connected: the people elect the 349 members of the Riksdag every four years. The Riksdag makes the laws and elects the prime minister. The government governs the country according to the laws, and the public authorities (myndigheterna) carry out the decisions. So your vote in the Riksdag election affects who writes Sweden’s laws.

What the test usually asks about

• How often elections are held: every four years (Riksdag, region, municipality) and every five years (EU).
• The age limit for voting: 18.
• What is required to vote in the Riksdag election and in the municipal and regional elections.
• That referendums are advisory, and the example of the euro in 2003.
• Voting card, polling station, advance voting and that the ballot is secret.
• The eight parties in the Riksdag.
• What proportional elections means.
• The four per cent threshold and why it exists.
• That the Riksdag makes the laws.

Practise chapter 4

Test yourself with three open questions on chapter 4; the rest are in the course. We wrote the questions in the style of the test; they are not UHR’s questions. Be extra careful with the rules on who may vote, that is where most people make mistakes. The practice test covers all chapters.

Difficult words in this chapter

rösträtt

the right to vote in an election

folkbokförd

registered with Skatteverket (the Tax Agency) as living in Sweden

folkomröstning

a referendum, a vote where the people vote on one particular question

rådgivande

advisory; the politicians do not have to follow the result

röstkort

the voting card sent to your home before the election, showing which polling station to go to

valsedel

the ballot paper with the party's name that you put in the envelope when you vote

valrörelse

the election campaign, the time before an election when the parties campaign for votes

proportionella val

proportional elections: the parties get seats in proportion to how many votes they got

majoritet

majority, more than half of the votes or seats

stifta lagar

to make (enact) laws

The course

The full course, all 13 chapters

MonthYear

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or 499 SEK for a full year

• Lessons for every chapter of Sverige i fokus
• Practice questions with explanations and page references
• A mock test in the same form as the August test
• Difficult words explained in plain Swedish

Coming soon

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Sources

• Sverige i fokus, UHR (2026): pp. 14–15 (elections and parties), pp. 12 and 16 (the Riksdag makes laws)