Parliamentary elections in Sweden are held every four years, in September. This is a chance for all citizens to go the polling stations to decide which women and men are to represent them in the Riksdag.
All Swedish citizens who have reached the age of 18 by election day and who are or have been resident in Sweden are entitled to vote.
To be eligible to become a member of the Riksdag, candidates must be entitled to vote and be nominated by a political party. Party affiliation is important because, initially, the votes in an election are distributed between the parties.
The Swedish electoral system is designed to distribute the seats as fairly as possible between the parties on the basis of the number of votes each party receives. In principle, all votes are of equal value but seats are only awarded to parties attaining a certain level of electoral support.