Members of the Swedish Parliament

Sweden is a parliamentary democracy. This means there are no presidential elections, only parliamentary elections. Based on which party – or coalition of parties – that receives the majority of votes, the parliament appoints a prime minister who then forms the government. The last time one party got absolute majority was in 1968, when the Social Democrats received 50.1 per cent of the votes. To be assigned any seats in the Swedish parliament, a party must receive at least four per cent of the votes or at least 12 per cent of the votes in any of the country’s 29 constituencies. That’s why there are few small parties in parliament. The parliament has 349 seats.