Sweden / Sverige Politic

Sweden / Kingdom of Sweden / Sverige Political

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. Constitutionally, the 349-member Riksdag (Parliament) holds supreme authority. The Riksdag is responsible for choosing the prime minister, who then appoints the government (the ministers). Legislative power is exercised solely by the Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the current government, while the judiciary is independent of it. Sweden lacks compulsory judicial review, although the non-compulsory review carried out by lagrådet (Law Council) is mostly respected in technical matters but less so in controversial political matters. Acts of the parliament and government decrees can be made inapplicable at every level if they are manifestly against constitutional laws. However, because of the restrictions in this form of judicial review and a weak judiciary, this has had little practical consequence.

Legislation may be initiated by the cabinet or by members of Parliament. Members are elected on the basis of proportional representation for a four-year term. The Constitution of Sweden can be altered by the Riksdag, which requires a simple but absolute majority and two decisions with general elections in between. Sweden has three other constitutional laws: the Act of Royal Succession, the Freedom of Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression.

Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden is ceremonial head of state

The Swedish Social Democratic Party has played a leading political role since 1917, after Reformists had confirmed their strength and the revolutionaries left the party. After 1932, the cabinets have been dominated by the Social Democrats. Only five general elections (1976, 1979, 1991, 2006 and 2010) have given the centre-right bloc enough seats in Parliament to form a government. However, poor economic performance since the beginning of the 1970s, and especially since the crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, Sweden's political system has become more like other European countries.

The Stockholm Palace, official residence of the king

In the 2006 general election the Moderate Party, allied with the Centre Party, Liberal People's Party, and the Christian Democrats formed the center-right Alliance for Sweden and won a majority of the votes. Together they have formed a majority government under the leadership of the Moderate party's leader Fredrik Reinfeldt. In the September 2010 election the Alliance contended against a unified center-left block consisting of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Left Party. It also saw the first election of the far-right Sweden Democrats into the Riksdag. The Alliance gained a plurality but was two or three seats short of a majority, however both the Alliance and the center-left block refused to form a coalition with the Sweden Democrats and the Alliance is currently governing as a minority government.

Election turnout in Sweden has always been high by international comparison, although it has declined in recent decades, and is currently around 80% (80.11 in 2002, and 81.99% in 2006). Swedish politicians enjoyed a high degree of confidence from the citizens in the 1960s but it has since declined steadily and has a markedly lower level of trust than its Scandinavian neighbours.

Some Swedish political figures that have become known worldwide include Raoul Wallenberg, Folke Bernadotte, former Secretary General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld, former Prime Minister Olof Palme, former Prime Minister and Foreign minister Carl Bildt, former President of the General Assembly of the United Nations Jan Eliasson, and former International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq inspector Hans Blix.