The development of democracy in Sweden

After a period of royal absolutism, King Gustav IV Adolf is arrested in a coup d’état in March 1809.  He is deposed by the Riksdag on 10 May, and the country finds itself in crisis. A new committee in the Riksdag, the Committee on the Constitution, is given the assignment of preparing a new constitution. The Committee works swiftly and intensively and the new Instrument of Government is adopted by the Riksdag’s four Estates on 6 June 1809. Now more power is transferred to the Riksdag.
Since 1983, Sweden’s national day has been celebrated on 6 June.

Married women are given the right to administer their private property and the power of decision over income originating from their own work.

Swedish women have been regarded as legally incompetent for centuries. Only widows can be legally competent, as long as they do not remarry. But in 1858, the Riksdag adopts a decision that unmarried women can apply to the court to become legally competent from the age of 25. In 1865, they automatically become legally competent when they turn 25, and in 1884, the age is lowered to 21. However, this still only applies to unmarried women. When a woman marries, she is placed under the guardianship of her husband.  Not until 1921 do married women also gain full legal competence, the same year as women are able to vote in the elections to the Riksdag for the first time.

Unmarried women become legally competent at the age of 21. When a woman gets married, she becomes legally incompetent and her husband may make decisions for her. It is not until 1921 that married women also become legally competent and can decide over their own lives.

National military service is introduced for men between the ages of 18 and 47. A new slogan in the debate on the right to vote begins to be used: “One man – one gun – one vote!” When the government demands that all men should serve the nation, regardless of class or background, many people also feel that they should have the right to vote.

Over 120,000 people strike in mid-May for the right to universal and equal suffrage to the Riksdag’s two Chambers. In order to win support for the right to vote, the compulsory military service is used as an argument – “One man – one gun – one vote!”.  If you are expected to risk your life for your country, full civil rights with the right to vote should also be introduced.

The Riksdag now decides to grant universal suffrage to men

• over the age of 24 who pay tax
• have done their military service
• have not been cared for in a poorhouse
• been in prison.

This applies to elections to the Second Chamber of the Riksdag. The undemocratically elected First Chamber remains in place.

Following decisions in the Riksdag in 1907 and 1909, women can stand for elections in town and municipal councils.

The first woman to be elected to a town council is Gertrud Månsson. She is elected to Stockholm City, which is the city whose election results are conclusively counted first of all.

In September 1911, the first election with significantly extended voting rights for men and a proportional election system is held.  Previously, just 9 per cent of the entire population were entitled to vote, but this now increases to 19 per cent. The reason this figure is not higher is that women are still excluded and the voting age is high. The requirement that male voters should have completed their military service and paid their taxes remains in place.

Karl Staaff’s Government presents the first ever bill on women’ suffrage and eligibility to stand for election to the Riksdag, but it is rejected in the First Chamber.

In the Second Chamber, the bill is approved with 140 votes for and 66 against, but in the First Chamber it is rejected with 86 votes against and 58 votes for, which means defeat for women’s suffrage.

1917 marks the breakthrough for parliamentary government, that is the principle that the Government must enjoy the support of the Riksdag. In practice, the King loses his political power.

According to the 1809 Instrument of Government, the power is shared between the King and the Riksdag. The King’s task is to govern the country, and the ministers are his advisers.

In the autumn of 1917, King Gustav V and the incoming Prime Minister Nils Edén reach an agreement which becomes an important basis for Sweden’s continued path to democracy. In a conversation with Edén, the King promises not to intervene in the Government’s policies. Edén will govern the country with the support of the Riksdag, and without influence from the King’s opinions.

In the late autumn, the Government calls an extra meeting of the Riksdag. The purpose is to adjust the salaries of central government employees, which have fallen during the war years. There is unrest in Europe. World War I has recently come to an end, but revolutions have broken out in several parts of Europe. Concern that something similar will happen in Sweden increases, and there is heavy pressure to introduce universal and equal suffrage for both women and men.

Protracted negotiations go on all day and well into the night. Since the Riksdag has been called to an extra meeting, it cannot make a decision about women’s right to vote at the current meeting, but eventually reaches an agreement that a decision will be taken at the ordinary Riksdag the following year:  Sweden is to introduce universal and equal suffrage.

In September 1921, both men and women can finally go to the polls and vote for the First and Second Chambers. Almost half of the women and 62 per cent of the men who are entitled to vote participate in the election in 1921.

The orderliness qualifications are gradually abolished. The requirement that men must have completed their military service to have the right to vote is abolished this year.

Now prisoners can also vote. 62 per cent of the population now enjoy the right to vote.

Homosexual relations are now made legal, but not until the late 1970s does the National Board of Health and Welfare cross homosexuality off the list of illnesses.

Per Albin Hansson’s Government presents a proposal that removes more obstacles to the right to vote. Now people who have been declared bankrupt and who are on social allowances are given the right to vote.

At the same time, the voting age is lowered to 21, and the electorate expands. 68 per cent of the population now enjoy the right to vote.

Karin Kock, who was a Professor of Economics was first a minister without portfolio and then Minister of Supply in Tage Erlander’s Government. This means that she becomes Sweden’s first woman minister.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights is said to be the most translated document in the world. The six pages of text have been translated into over 500 languages and dialects.

The Declaration consists of 30 articles and the first article reads:  “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

The Declaration contains conventions on economic, social and cultural rights, abolition of race discrimination and discrimination of women, etc.

The UN – United Nations – is established after World War II in 1945. Sweden becomes a member of the organisation in 1946. The Declaration is adopted by the General Assembly in Paris in 1948.

For the first time, half of the population participates in the election.

The Freedom of Religion Act from 1951 gives Swedish citizens the right to freely leave the Church of Sweden without joining another approved religious community. Government ministers are no longer required to identify themselves as Christian.

The voting age is now lowered to 20 years in Sweden.

Since 1968, all Swedish citizens with the right to vote who are living abroad have been entitled to vote in elections to the Riksdag, regardless of how long they have been living abroad.

The voting age is now lowered to 19 years in Sweden.

Two major all-party commissions of inquiry in the 1950s and 1960s note that there are several democratic reasons in favour of a parliament with just one chamber. As of now, citizens can determine the composition of the Riksdag in one and the same election. The new electoral system means that the parties receive exactly the same share of seats as they do votes.

The rule that a party must have four per cent of the votes to be represented in the Riksdag dates from this time.

Instead, individual taxation is introduced in Sweden. Previously, spouses were taxed jointly.  This means that the partner who earned the least in the marriage paid as much tax as the partner who earned the most.  This means that it sometimes did not pay to work for the one with the lower income, often the woman in the family. The reform has been called “the biggest gender equality reform in half a century”.

The political power of the King, which has in practice been abolished, now disappears formally too.

The Riksdag decides to lower the voting age from 19 to 18. 

72 per cent of the population now enjoy the right to vote.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a debate is launched on the possible right of foreign citizens to vote.  In 1976, the rules for municipal elections are amended. The Riksdag notes that the right to vote in municipal elections for foreign citizens has democratic advantages. After having spent some time in the country, the opportunity to participate in general elections increases participation in society.

As of this year, people without Swedish citizenship can vote if they have lived in the municipality for at least three years. However, in elections to the Riksdag, requirements regarding Swedish citizenship still remain in place.

Society starts to make greater demands to ensure that polling stations and public places should be accessible for people with disabilities.

The Riksdag adopts a prohibition on smacking or other forms of violence against children.

For the first time, the percentage of women in the Riksdag exceeds 30 per cent of the members.

Karin Söder, who has previously served as both Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Health and Social Affairs succeeds Thorbjörn Falldin as Chair of the Centre Party.

Individuals can no longer be declared legally incompetent. Previously a court could decide that a person who had reached the age of majority should be declared legally incompetent. This means that all Swedish citizens over the age of 18 now enjoy the right to vote.

74 per cent of the population now enjoy the right to vote.

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, is adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989, and Sweden becomes a party to the treaty the following year. The intention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is to give all children, regardless of their background, the right to be treated with respect and to make themselves heard.

The Riksdag gets its first woman Speaker, Ingegerd Troedsson (1929-2012).  She was a member of the Riksdag, Deputy Minister for Health and Social Affairs and Deputy Speaker before being elected Speaker.

The Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression is adopted to protect the right to express oneself, for example, on the radio, television and Internet.

In a referendum on Swedish membership of the EU, 52.3 per cent of the Swedes vote yes to membership, while 46.8 per cent vote no.  Even though the referendum is consultative, there is political consensus that Sweden should observe the results.

Sweden becomes a member of the European Union in 1995. Sweden’s electorate are now able to vote in the election to the European Parliament and parts of the Riksdag’s legislative powers are transferred to the EU.

Personal preference voting is tested for the first time in the elections to the European Parliament in 1995 and the election to the Riksdag in 1998.

The Sami Parliament is established with the purpose of protecting the interests of the Sami minority.

The Jews, Roma, Sami, Swedish Finns and Tornedalers are recognised as national minorities. Ten years later in 2009, the Act on Minorities and Minority Languages is adopted, guaranteeing special rights for national minorities. 

A new Discrimination Act is introduced to combat discrimination on grounds of gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnic origin, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.

From 1 January 2020, the courts are to take into account the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in cases concerning children.

The Riksdag approves the Speaker Andreas Norlén’s proposal to appoint Magdalena Andersson (Social Democratic Party) as prime minister, which means that Sweden gets its first woman prime minister.