Elections in Sweden

on the three levels of administrative division in the Kingdom

of Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, these elections determine the allocation of seats in the Riksdag, the national legislative body of Sweden. Elections to the 20 county councils (landsting) and 290 municipal assemblies (kommunfullmäktige) – all using roughly the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September (with effect from 2014; until 2010 they had been held on the third Sunday in September).

be:
a Swedish citizen,
at least 18 years of age on election

day,
and have at some point been a registered resident of Sweden (thus excluding foreign-born Swedes who have never lived in Sweden)
To vote in Swedish local elections (for the county councils and municipal assemblies), one must:
be a registered resident of the county or municipality in question and be at least 18 years of age on election day
fall into one of the following groups:
Swedish citizens
Citizens of Iceland, Norway, or any country in the European Union
Citizens of any other country who have permanent residency in Sweden and have lived in Sweden for three consecutive years

of candidates or parties, each party in Sweden has separate

ballot papers. The ballot papers must be identical in size and material, and have different colors depending on the type of election: yellow for Riksdag elections, blue for county council elections and white for municipal elections.
Sweden uses open lists and utilizes apparentment between lists of the same party and constituency to form a cartel, a group of lists that are legally allied for purposes of seat allocation. A single preference vote may be indicated as well.

general elections held every four years. All Swedish citizens who

turn 18 years old no later than on the day of the election are eligible to vote in and stand for elections. A minimum of 4% of the national vote is required for a party to enter the Riksdag, alternatively 12% or more within a constituency. Substitutes for each deputy are elected at the same time as each election, so by-elections are rare. In the event of a snap election, the newly elected members merely serve the remainder of the four-year term.