Reichstag (Sweden)

Sveriges riksdag Swedish parliament
coat of arms	Reichstag building, seat of the Swedish Reichstag
Basic data
Seat:	Riksdagshuset , Stockholm
Legislative period :	4 years
MPs:	349
Current legislative period
Last choice:	September 9, 2018
Next choice:	September 11, 2022
Chair:	President of the Reichstag Andreas Norlén ( M )
Distribution of seats 28 100 16 31 20th 70 22nd 62 28 100 16 31 20th 70 22nd 62
Distribution of seats:	Government (116) S 100 MP 16 Tolerance (79) C 31 L 20 V 28 1 Opposition (154) M 70 SD 62 KD 22
Website
www.riksdagen.se

The Swedish Reichstag ( Swedish riksdagen or Sveriges riksdag ) is the Swedish parliament . Since the 15th century there was a stalls Reichstag . From 1867 to 1970 the Swedish Reichstag consisted of two chambers, and since then it has had one chamber .

The Swedish Parliament has 349 members. Its current composition is derived from the election in 2018 off Reichstag President 's Andreas Norlén .

history

Estates day

→ Main article : Swedish Estates Day

Since the 15th century, the Reichstag was the gathering of representatives of the four estates (nobility, priests, citizens and peasants) in the Kingdom of Sweden. After the king, it was the highest constitutional institution in the empire, but usually only met every three years. His Succession Act , passed in 1809, is now the oldest part of the Swedish constitution.

Census suffrage

In 1865 a two-chamber system was decided. The new chambers were first elected in 1867.

The election for the First Chamber took place indirectly through the state assembly ( Landsting ) and the largest municipal council assemblies. This is how “education and property” (bildningen och förmögenheten) should be represented. Only men over 35 with real estate assets worth at least 80,000 Reichstalers or an annual taxable income of at least 4,000 Reichstalers were eligible. Only about 6,000 people in all of Sweden met these conditions. This census suffrage was valid until 1909, with women, companies and legal entities also having the right to vote. The First Chamber had terms of office of eight years, and one eighth of the members were newly elected each year.

From 1867 onwards, there was also a census voting right for the election to the Second Chamber : Swedish men over 21 years of age with property with a tax value of over 1,000 Reichstalers or an annual taxable income of over 800 Talers were entitled to vote. 236,120 adult men, about 5.6 percent of the population, had the right to vote in the Second Chamber. 79 percent of adult men were not eligible to vote.

Universal suffrage

The Swedish Social Democratic Labor Party was the country's first party to be founded in 1889. It was not until 1900 that the Liberal Members of the Second Chamber founded the Liberal Gathering Party . One of the main goals of both parties was the introduction of universal suffrage. The first and initially only Social Democrat in the Second Chamber, Hjalmar Branting , was only elected in the 1896 election because the Liberals supported his candidacy.

The question of voting rights remained topical for decades. King Gustav V , enthroned in 1907, supported the transition to parliamentary democracy. In 1909 universal and equal suffrage for the Second Chamber was introduced for men who had done military service. Completion of military service as a requirement was omitted in 1922. In the 1921 election , women were also entitled to vote for the first time. Another reform step took place in 1923: The census suffrage was also abolished for the First Chamber, now the members were elected indirectly by the municipalities and provinces. This increased the influence of the parties. In 1937 prisoners and in 1945 also welfare recipients, prisoners and people in private bankruptcy were given the right to vote.

Abolition of the bicameral system

The indirect election of the First Chamber caused a time delay in the implementation of the popular will, especially since the MPs were elected for eight years.

The Social Democrats were able to achieve an advantageous position in the First Chamber in the 20th century. After they nevertheless agreed to the abolition of the First Chamber, a unicameral system with a four percent hurdle was introduced from the 1970 election . From 1970 to 1976 the Swedish Reichstag had 350 members. In the Reichstag elections in 1973 , both blocs received 175 mandates each, so that resolutions had to be passed by drawing lots (“Lottery Reichstag ”). As of the 1976 elections, the number of MPs was reduced to 349 in order to prevent this situation from happening again.

Election of the Reichstag

The Reichstag is elected every fourth year on the second Sunday in September (up to and including the 2010 election on the third Sunday). The elections for the provincial parliaments and the municipal councils are held at the same time as the Reichstag elections.

Swedish citizens who have reached the age of 18 on election day are entitled to vote and can be elected. The election is based on proportional representation , with a blocking clause : in order for a party to receive mandates, it must receive four percent of the votes nationwide or at least twelve percent of the votes in one of the 29 constituencies .

Since the 1998 election , voters have been able to give a candidate a preferential vote . If a candidate receives at least five percent of the total votes of his party in the constituency ( eight percent before the 2014 election ), he will be placed at the top of his party's electoral list and thus increase his chances of receiving a parliamentary mandate. If several candidates achieve this, they are sorted in descending order according to the number of preferred votes and placed at the top of the list.

The mandates are assigned using a modified Sainte-Laguë procedure .

Extraordinary election of the Reichstag

The government has the right to call new elections during the legislative period . Such a resolution may, however, be made three months after the first meeting of a newly elected Reichstag at the earliest. If one or more members of the government are voted out of office by a vote of no confidence , the government can still exist if it takes a decision on an extraordinary election within one week.

An extraordinary election can also be initiated if a new Prime Minister is to be elected and the proposal of the Reichstag President is rejected four times. If an ordinary Reichstag election is not due within three months anyway, an extraordinary election is scheduled.

This must take place within three months of the announcement. The prematurely re-elected Reichstag replaces the one that has been dissolved no later than 15 days after the election date. However, he will only serve until the end of the previous, regular electoral term, then a scheduled new election is due.

The last such election was in 1958 . An extraordinary election for March 22, 2015, initially announced because of a government crisis after the 2014 election, was not initiated after most of the Reichstag parties had reached an agreement.

Organization of the Reichstag

The President of the Reichstag and the President's Conference

At the head of the Reichstag is the Reichstag President (talman) , who is elected for a full legislative period. He coordinates the work of parliament, chairs plenary sessions and represents parliament externally at home and abroad. When forming a government, he can propose a candidate for the office of Prime Minister; it is incumbent on him to formally appoint and dismiss members of the government. If the king and his deputy are unable to attend , they are temporarily represented by the speaker of parliament until the Reichstag has appointed an imperial administrator (riksföreståndare) . The President of the Reichstag is obliged to exercise his office in a neutral manner; in political disputes he does not comment on the matter and does not take part in votes: A successor from his party's electoral list assumes his parliamentary duties . The Presidium also consists of three Vice-Presidents. They are allowed to continue their parliamentary activities, but are not allowed to speak in debates if they are chairing a meeting.

• 2010: Per Westerberg (M); Vice-Presidents Susanne Eberstein (S), Ulf Holm (MP) and Jan Ertsborn (FP).
• 2014: Urban Ahlin (S); Vice-Presidents Tobias Billström (M), Björn Söder (SD) and Esabelle Dingizian (MP).
• 2018: Andreas Norlén (M); Vice-Presidents Åsa Lindestam (S), Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V) and Kerstin Lundgren (C).

The President of the Reichstag is supported by the President's Conference. It consists of the committee chairman, the chairman of the Reichstag administration and one representative from each parliamentary group.

Reichstag committees

The Swedish Reichstag has 15 specialist committees plus the EU committee (EU-named) . Apart from the constitutional committee, the committees reflect the division of the ministries' divisions. In addition, further committees can be formed as required. Each committee has 17 members and is made up according to the strengths of the political groups. The most important task of the committees is to discuss proposals and government proposals. In connection with this, hearings can be held, at which members of the government are also heard. Most of the time, ministerial officials are also involved.

The EU committee was created after Sweden joined the EU in 1995 to bundle the deliberations between parliament and government on questions of EU policy. The government is obliged to consult with the committee before taking important decisions in Brussels. This is particularly true in the run-up to EU ministerial conferences and European Council meetings .

plenum

View of the plenary hall from the visitors' gallery

The MEPs do not sit in the plenary chamber according to parliamentary groups, but rather according to constituencies.

Reichstag authorities

The Reichstag has set up authorities for certain tasks. The most important are the four judicial ombudsmen who oversee the work of state and local authorities. They can investigate citizen complaints, inspect authorities, and act as special prosecutors investigating civil service breaches.

The Reichstag auditors check the use of state funds in the context of state administration.

The Swedish Reichsbank is subordinate to the Reichstag. Your control council (riksbankfullmäktige) is elected by the Reichstag, which in turn determines the board of directors of the Reichsbank.

Criminal Immunity

According to Chapter 4, Section 12 Regeringsformen, the members of the Reichstag enjoy criminal immunity . However, this only includes crimes that have been committed in the course of exercising their mandate in the Reichstag. The immunity can be lifted by a majority of five sixths of the members of the Reichstag.

Riksdagshuset

The seat of the Swedish Reichstag is the Riksdagshuset ("Reichstagshaus"). It is located on the island of Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm in the Gamla Stan district . The building was built between 1897 and 1905.

coat of arms

Since 1992 the Reichstag has used three blue crowns ("Reichstag blue") as a coat of arms; they come from the Small State Coat of Arms . Sweden's state heraldic Henrik Klackenberg criticized the choice of colors in 2013: It violates the law, which makes golden crowns mandatory. However, Parliament saw no reason to abandon the usual application.

Current composition of the Reichstag

The distribution of seats after the last election in 2018 is as follows:

logo		fraction	Alignment	Group leader	Seats
		Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti (S) Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party	social democratic	Annelie Karlsson	100
		Moderata samlingspartiet (M) Moderate gathering party	conservative	Tobias Billström	070
		Sverigedemokraterna (SD) Sweden Democrats	right-wing populist	Henrik Vinge	062
		Centerpartiet (C) Center Party	liberal , agrarian	Not so W. Jonsson	031
		Vänsterpartiet (V) Left Party	socialist	Maj Karlsson	028
		Kristdemokraterna (KD) Christian Democrats	Christian Democratic	Andreas Carlson	022nd
		Liberalerna (L) The Liberals	liberal	Johan Pehrson	020th
		Miljöpartiet de Gröna (MP) Environment party The Greens	green	Annika Hirvonen	016
total					349

Web links

• Official site (Swedish, English, German, etc.)
• Sven Jochem: The Reichstag election 2006 - a turning point in Swedish party history. In: NORDEUROPA forum (2006: 2), 5-24. (online) (PDF; 297 kB)

Remarks

¹ V has agreed to an addendum which means they won't overthrow Löfven.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010): Elections in Europe: A data handbook , p. 1859 ( ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7 )
2. ^ History of the Suffrage Swedish Electoral Board (Swedish).
3. ↑ Riksdagsmanna valen 1965-1968, Del 2. Förstakammarvalen 1965-1969 , pages 7, 11 (PDF; 5 MB)
4. ↑ Detlef Jahn : The Swedish political system ( memento from November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on: phil.uni-greifswald.de (PDF; 1.4 MB).
5. ↑ Riksdagens historia. In: riksdagen.se , accessed March 6, 2017 (Swedish).
6. ↑ Vallagen (SFS 2005: 837)
7. ↑ Grafisk manual for Sveriges riksdag. In: yumpu.com , accessed September 27, 2019 ( PDF , Swedish).
8. ↑ Riksdagens kronor kan vara ett lagbrott - "störande när riksdagen som stiftat lagen inte följer den" In: dagensjuridik.se , October 22, 2013, accessed on October 10, 2015 (Swedish).

Coordinates: 59 ° 19 ′ 39 ″  N , 18 ° 4 ′ 3 ″  E