Once the voting procedure is completed, the votes are counted. The votes now have to be distributed between 349 seats in the Riksdag.
When polling closes on election day, election officials carry out a preliminary count of the votes cast. This count is broadcast during election night coverage.
The count is finalised the following week by the County Administrative Boards. All counts are open to the general public.
The electoral system is intended to distribute seats in the Riksdag between the parties as fairly as possible in proportion to the number of votes cast.
In principle, all votes are of equal value but seats are only awarded to parties attaining a certain level of electoral support. Seats are distributed by the Election Authority on the basis of the reports from the County Administrative Boards.
There are 349 Riksdag seats altogether, and of these 310 are fixed constituency seats, allotted to the constituencies in advance, according to the number of voters in each. After the election these seats are allocated to the parties on the basis of the result achieved in the respective constituency.
The purpose of the 39 adjustment seats is to achieve the best possible proportional distribution of seats between the parties for the country as a whole. This means that the adjustment seats are first allocated according to party and then according to constituency.
In order to participate in the allocation of seats and achieve representation in the Riksdag, a party must obtain at least 4 per cent of the votes in the entire country or 12 per cent in a constituency.
The fixed seats in a constituency are allocated between the parties as follows. First a comparative index is worked out for all the parties concerned. This is done by dividing the number of votes for a party by 1.4.
The party with the highest comparative index gains the first seat in the constituency, whereupon its votes are divided by 3. The next time the party is allotted a seat, its votes are divided by 5, then by 7, 9 and so on.
This is known as the adjusted odd numbers method. Each time a new comparative index is worked out, a seat goes to the party with the highest score, until all the fixed constituency seats have been allocated.
After the fixed seats have been allocated in the various constituencies, it is the turn of the adjustment seats. The aim is to make the total distribution of seats as fair as possible for the country as a whole, and a different method is now applied.
The first step is to work out how many votes the parties have gained in the whole country and how the 349 Riksdag seats would have been distributed in a single, nationwide constituency.
The difference between this notional number and the number of fixed seats already distributed constitutes each party’s “allocation” of the 39 adjustment seats. The constituencies to which these seats are allotted will depend on where the party scores its highest comparative index following allocation of the fixed constituency seats. For parties with no fixed seats in one constituency, the number of votes gained will be the comparative index.
Once the allocation of seats between the parties has been settled, it remains to work out which candidate or candidates will occupy them. Members of the Riksdag are selected primarily on the strength of votes cast for them personally. The personalised vote score is the number of personalised votes cast for a particular candidate in a particular constituency.
In order to be returned on the strength of personalised votes, the candidate must have gained such votes corresponding to at least 8 per cent of the party vote in the constituency. If two or more candidates have fulfilled this requirement, they will be returned in the order of their personalised vote scores. If it is not possible to appoint all members on the strength of personalised votes, the d’Hondt method will be used instead.