This article was first published in Stockholm News 2010-02-24
Is the Swedish electoral system fair or are there shortcomings that disfavor smaller parties? The question is asked in the Danish newspaper Politiken by Birgitta Wistrand, Swedish researcher and former parliamentarian and Jørgen Elklit, Danish political scientist.
Wistrand and Elklit point out two factors around Swedish elections that they believe should be changed.
Firstly, the system for printing and distributing ballots. In Sweden each party has their own ballot, it is not like in some other countries where there is a common ballot and the voter put a cross in a space that correspond to the party or candidate he/she wants to vote for.
The state pays for the printing and distribution of ballots for all parties that have got at least one percent of the votes in any of the two latest elections. This means that new parties have to pay for printing and arrange with distribution to poling stations by own means. That might be rather expensive and sometimes small parties lack the number of volunteers that is necessary to visit all the polling stations and place their ballots. In some cases the ballots are even removed by political opponents. When this happens to bigger parties it is up to the teller to make sure they are replaced with new ones.
It is however possible to write a party name on an empty ballot. Unless one misspells the party name completely, it will be a valid vote. In order to cross a specific candidate on the party list, one needs however the official ballot.
The other problem Wistrand and Elklit find is that the people standing outside the polling stations giving ballots to voters represent different parties. In small constituencies people often know each other and the distributers are conducting a subtle influence or pressure on the voters, especially if they know them.
I believe the writers have some points. Perhaps the state should pay for the printing and distribution of ballots for all parties that officially run in the election. It is very dangerous if one believe that any electoral system is perfect and free from any possibility of fraud. This is not least shown in the fraud in the internal election in the Moderate party.
But I also believe the Swedish electoral system is very safe when it comes to the actual voting process. Having worked as a teller during Swedish elections I would say my impression is that it would be very difficult to interfere with the process when collecting or counting the votes.
Elklit and Wistrand refer to Morten Messerschmidt, a danish Member of the European Parliament, who has suggested that the EU should send observers to the upcoming Swedish elections. Personally I believe this could be a good idea, not only for the Swedish election, but for all elections. Fraud could occur where you least expect in so why not have an international observation of all national parliamentary elections? Perhaps too expensive but there could be a smaller scale observation in stable democracies. It is something to think about.
You can find the article, in Danish, here.
Stockholm News will write more about the Swedish electoral system, and about who is entitled to vote, when the general election in September approaches.
