MaktkartanPublished: Text updated:
Every four years, in September
Elections to the Riksdag are held on the second Sunday of September every four years. Municipal and regional councils are elected on the same day. The most recent election was on 13 September 2026.
Every Swedish citizen who has turned 18 by election day and who is or has at some time been resident in Sweden may vote. You vote for a party, and can also mark a preference cross for a person on the party's list.
Proportional representation
The Riksdag's 349 seats are allocated broadly in proportion to the votes. A party with 20 percent of the vote should get about 20 percent of the seats. The method used is a variant of the Sainte-Laguë odd-number method.
310 of the seats are fixed constituency seats allocated within the country's 29 constituencies. The remaining 39 are adjustment seats: they are distributed according to the nationwide vote to correct distortions, so that the Riksdag mirrors the national result even when individual constituencies have produced skewed outcomes.
The four-percent threshold
To win seats, a party must receive at least 4 percent of the national vote. The exception: a party with at least 12 percent in a single constituency takes part in allocating that constituency's fixed seats, but not the adjustment seats.
In the 2026 election the smaller parties together fell below the threshold at 1,6 % - they won no seats despite more than a hundred thousand votes.
The constituencies
Sweden is divided into 29 constituencies, roughly following the counties. Large counties are split - Skåne and Västra Götaland have four constituencies each. The number of fixed seats in a constituency depends on its population.
On the constituency map you can see how each party did in every constituency, how many seats each constituency has, and what turnout was.