The question you don’t ask a Swede part I Posted by jennie on Sep 15, 2010 in Uncategorized
We are only a few days away from the big election and if the polls are reliable, it looks like the sitting block, Alliansen (The Alliance), will get another four years of power. I’m not going to dig deep into the structure of the Swedish politics, but in short – and as the reader David very kindly informed us about – on Sunday every Swedish citizen over 18 will vote for the party who they would like to take places in our riksdag (349 members). It is our riksdag that forms the government (regering) and appoints the prime minister. But you need to get at least 4% of the votes to get into the riksdag. Today, seven parties are represented – Socialdemokraterna, Moderata Samlingspartiet, Centerpartiet, Folkpartiet Liberalerna, Miljöpartiet and Kristdemokraterna – and like in so many other democracies, the parties form alliances with eac hother to make sure to get the majority of the seats and the power of Sweden. This is the case in Sweden nowadays you more or less choose between two blocks, the sitting Alliansen (Moderaterna, Folkpartiet, Kristdemokraterna and Centerpartiet) and Rödgröna (The red and greens: Socialdemokraterna, Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet). Short and simplified, Alliansen is more to the right; de Rödgröna is more to the left.
Well, that’s as good as my crash course in Swedish politics will get. But if you would like to read more about our government system in English, please click here.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have not been as involved as I would have liked to be this election. But there’s one social aspect of politics that strikes me everytime it’s election in Sweden (every forth year) and the time after. Swedes (okay, I’m generalizing a bit to prove my point…) do not like to talk about how they vote. Oh no. You can happily ask anyone “Will you vote?” (Ska du rösta?) or “Have you votet?” (Har du röstat?) but you do not aks “Who did you vote for?” (Vem röstade du på?). In fact, we are so not used to it, that whenever you get some celebrites to actually talk about how they vote, it’s big news and big headlines! Okay, to be fair, it has been a bit more celebrity campaigning and “I’m voting red and I’m proud of it!” this year, but it’s not many and it’s not much.
Is it the same thing where you are from? Are politictal views a big no-no at the dinner parties? I just find it so strange! The open mided and free spirited Swedes don’t talk about how they vote. Agree/disagree? Or is it perhaps a good thing to keep your political veiw to yourself?
PS: Next time I will dedicate my post to the second question you don’t ask a Swede. Any clue what that might be?
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Comments:
Letícia:
It’s funny, people here talk about how they vote all the time, but I personally don’t like to talk about it. That’s because I feel that most people are never just curious about it, but they’re ready to lecture you if they find out you don’t vote like them. The same goes for religion, which I suspect will be the subject of your next post… maybe?
jennie:
You are right, that might be the case… people don’t like the lecture you are getting included in the answer…
And… It’s not religion, believe it or not!
Btw, Måns should be with you in not too long! 🙂
Ankan:
It’s the same here. People take the whole “secret vote” thing very seriously. They won’t have a problem sharing their general political views with you, but they don’t like having to say who they voted for.
However, when it turns out that the party in power didn’t do what they promised. everyone is quick to say “serves you right, I didn’t vote for them!” :))
Antonia:
the second question you don’t ask a Swede:
Hur mycket väger du?
Luke (Sydney):
Let me guess, is it “are you married”? lol
david:
Hello
well, here, were I work, we talk about it all the time meaning during coffee breaks and lunch breaks. And I have been asked what I voted for with the addition “you don’t have to answer that”. But most of the time nobody reveals the party or seems to be uncertain.
It is pretty much the same where I am from. Only with some of my friends I could discuss it freely. Usually, people don’t say it directly but often make a statement that cannot be interpreted wrongly about the party they vote for.
But I agree, I don’t like talking about that during dinner parties either especially after a few drinks.
Anyway, it was very interesting to see how to vote in Sweden. I am used to making a cross in front of the parties name. I wonder how the count all the votes with bad handwriting when people write a parties name on a blank paper.
Letícia:
@jennie: so it’s not religion then? Now I have no idea what that might be. I’m very curious!
And yay for Måns! Thanks, as soon as he gets here I’ll let you know. 🙂
Erik:
As an American living in Sweden, I find it funny that Swedes are usually quick to ask how I voted in the U.S. But, when the situation is reversed, Swedes look at me like I’m crazy.
So Swedes, don’t discuss “foreign” politics if your not prepared to discuss domestic ones!
Vea:
@david: i don’t know where you got that but I think you got it a little bit wrong. You don’t have to write your vote yourself. When you vote you vote in 3 different districts. for the big one, riksdag, in whole Sweden. Then in the more local area called kommunfullmäktige och landstingsfullmäktige.
the riksdag make the big decisions for the whole of Sweden.
the kommunfulmäktige makes the small decisions for a town and the municipality (think it is called that) with the money they get from riksdagen. you only vote for the place you live so the parties that gets most votes can be different in this election depending on where.
and the landstingsfullmäktige is the county council and is for most part a bit bigger than the kommunfullmäktige so it can consist of more than one municipality. They decide of the money for the medical service in that particularly district and then the kommun have to do as they say.
hope you understand so far, riksdagen is the biggest, then the landstingsfullmäktige and then kommunfullmäktige.
So when we vote we vote in three different elections at a time. ant then you have the valsedel, the piece of paper. every parti got three different colors blue, white and yellow, depending on the three elections. and most part they have two different papers in each color for every parti as well. one with names of the politicians that can be elected as well and one with just the parties name. Then you can decide if you want to vote on one special person or just the parti itself.
If you vote for a person you select his/hers name with a cross in the box beside it, if not, you don’t have to write anything. Then you put the three pieces of paper in three different envelopes and turn them in to the “urn”.
If you don’t want to vote on anyone or any parti you can also get a complete blank paper and turn that in instead. that way your vote counts but no-one can yous it.
it is a really complicated thing but I hope I have made it a bit clearer. It is hard to explain something like this in English when it can be hard to understand it if you are from Sweden as well ^_^
david:
@Vea
Thanks for the explanation. I think I didn’t express it clearly enough what I meant. English is also not my mother tongue. So don’t worry 🙂
What I meant was, that there were basically for each election (riksdag, landsting, kommun) three different kinds of papers as you also said. One with all the candidate names, one with a parties name on it and one empty where you could write some party yourself (according to http://www.val.se).
I have to say they make a good job explaining it in many languages on that website. It is really a brilliant thing that every European is allowed to vote for “landsting” and “kommun” wherever in Europe he/she lives.
I found it the hardest to read about parties in advance. Here it took a while until they all had something on their website concerning the region here.
Leandro:
Hi, here in Brazil the people usually don’t talk each other about their votes option, but there are some free speakers who commnet about their intentions in politics. It’s not a standard, but people eventually avoid speaking about politics only to avoid bad discussions..
Nice to see how things happen in different Countries and cultures..