Sweden holds a general election on Sunday. The centre-right government of PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is behind in the polls, is seeking a third term.

Sweden holds a general election on Sunday. All 349 seats in the Riksdag will be up for grabs.

Here are seven things to know about the vote:

1. The parties

Sweden is currently governed by a centre-right coalition known as the Alliance. It is comprised of the Moderate Party (M), the Liberal People’s Party (FP), the Centre Party (C), and the Christian Democrats (KD).

On the left of centre there are the Social Democratic Party (S), the Green Party (MP) and the Left Party (V).

On the far-right, the Sweden Democrats (SD), who won seats in parliament for the first time in the previous election in 2010, and who sit with Britain’s UKIP in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group in the European Parliament.

Finally, it’s worth watching the Feminist Initiative (FI), who in May became the first feminist party to win a seat in the European Parliament.

2. The 2010 result

Sweden is currently governed by the centre-right Alliance, which led by Moderate leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, ousted the Social Democrats from power for the first time in 12 years in 2006. The Alliance retained power four years later in the 2010 elections.

It was the first time since votes in the early 1900s that centre-right parties won back-to-back elections.

3. Feminist breakthrough? What are the polls saying?

According to the latest polls, Reinfeldt is unlikely to win a third term. The centre-right parties trail the left of centre parties by about eight percentage points, though it is not certain that the a red-green coalition led by the Socialists has the numbers for an absolute majority. Whether Feminist Initiative enters parliament, and how many seats SD wins, may prove decisive factors in determining the parliamentary arithmetic. Should they enter parliament, FI would become the first feminist party to win seats in a major European parliament,

4. Sweden has more women in parliament than any other country in Europe

5. Turnout

Compared to voter turnout at the most recent general elections across EU member states, Sweden’s 2010 figure is the third highest in Europe*.

6. The voting system (a short version)



Since 1971, Sweden has had a unicameral (one-chamber) system. Members of parliament are elected via open lists through proportional representation. There is a 4% threshold to enter parliament. Sweden has 29 geographically defined constituencies, each of which has between two and 43 seats.

Around 7m people are entitled to vote.

Ballot papers are either blank or party-specific. There are three types of ballot papers in Sweden: one with party name and list of that party’s candidates (on which the voter can select a preferred candidate - only one preference is allowed), one with party name only, on which voters can write the name of their preferred candidate, and finally a blank ballot on which a voter can write both their preferred party and candidate. Theoretically, voters can write anyone’s name on the blank ballot, and if this person gets enough votes, they get elected. Ballot papers for parliamentary elections are yellow.

7. Poll times and results

Polls open at 8am (6am GMT) and close at 8pm (6pm GMT). Exit polls are expected once voting ends, and official results (in Swedish) will be available at val.se.

*for countries with parliamentary and presidential elections we have used European Council membership. Countries where voting is compulsory have been excluded. For countries - such as Finland, Bulgaria and Slovenia - where IDEA turnout data doesn’t match national election commissions’ figures, we have used the latter.