Voting opens in Sweden for 2024 European elections

Advance voting for the 2024 elections for the European Parliament opens in Sweden today. 

Each municipality will typically set up one or more special voting places, often in a public library, where those who are eligible can go and vote early if they have already decided which party to vote for, or are worried they will not be able to find time on election day (June 9th).

European elections usually see a much lower turnout than national elections in Sweden: in 2019 only 55 percent of those eligible voted, compared to 84 percent in the 2022 national election.

Swedish citizens who are over the age of 18 on election day – including dual nationals – can vote in European elections, even if they don’t live in Sweden. They must, however, have been registered as living in Sweden at some time in the past.

Non-Swedish citizens who are living in Sweden can only vote if they have citizenship of an EU country. So for example Irish, French or German citizens living in Sweden can vote in European elections but Americans, Indians, Australians and so on cannot.

Here’s The Local’s guide to the top candidates in Sweden.

Swedish vocabulary: turnout – valdeltagande

Poll: Centre and Christian Democrats risk losing their MEPs

A new poll by pollsters Ipsos on behalf of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper shows that two Swedish parties risk getting less than the four percent of the votes they need to keep their seats in the European Parliament, with only two and a half week to go until the election.

The Centre Party (which belongs to the liberal and pro-EU Renew Europe group in the European Parliament) is polling at 3.6 percent in the survey and the Christian Democrats (which belong to conservative and Christian Democrat group EPP) at a nail-biting 3.9 percent.

Both parties currently hold two seats in the European Parliament.

The Liberals are above the threshold, but not completely out of the woods, at 4.7 percent.

The Social Democrats could have their best EU election ever if the poll is right, with 29.6 percent saying they would vote for them (which is still lower than their normal result in a national Swedish election). They’re followed by the Moderates at 19.1 percent, the Sweden Democrats at 17.8 percent, the Green Party at 10.8 percent and the Left Party at 7.6 percent.

Swedish vocabulary: a poll – en opinionsundersökning

430 surgeries cancelled or rescheduled as strike action takes effect

Swedish hospitals have had to cancel or reschedule more than 430 surgeries because of an overtime ban launched by the Swedish Association of Health Professionals in a row over salaries and rotas a month ago, reports public radio broadcaster SR Ekot.

Twenty out of Swedens 21 healthcare regions said their scheduled surgeries had been affected. 

At Uppsala University Hospital, more than 40 surgeries have been cancelled since April 25th.

“We’re seeing a clear effect now. It primarily affects things that are not time-sensitive, such as orthopedics,” Johan Lugnegård, chief physician, told the radio, but added that the hospital had also been forced to cancel a few more urgent cancer surgeries.

A total of around 63,000 union members are taking part in the overtime ban. The union is now threatening to scale up the industrial action to a full-blown strike at some of Sweden’s biggest hospitals from June 4th. The move would see some 2,000 nurses, midwives, biomedical analysts and radiology nurses walk out in five regions: Stockholm, Västra Götaland, Skåne, Östergötland and Västerbotten.

Swedish vocabulary: to cancel – att ställa in

Less focus on Sweden in global terror propaganda

Sweden is no longer being singled out as a priority target in terror propaganda, Ahn-Za Hagström, the head of the National Centre for Terrorist Threat Assessment (NCT), told SR Ekot. 

The focus is now instead of large arena events in other European countries, such as the UEFA European Championship in Germany and the Olympics in Paris, she said. 

Sweden’s terror threat level was raised from three to four on a five-point scale in August last year, after terror organisations such as Isis and al-Qaida zoomed in on it as a prioritised target following Quran burnings and a global disinformation campaign about the social services.

Swedish vocabulary: to single out – att peka ut