ABSTRACT
Sweden is the only European country in which local elections are consistently held on the same day as the national and regional elections. This contributes to a comparatively high level of turnout, with around 85% of the electorate participating. A proportional election system, which is uniform independently of municipal size, safeguards fair representation on the local councils of all parties apart from the very smallest. A party label is compulsory for all candidates, and 95% of all seats are captured by the political parties represented in the national parliament. In practice, the parties themselves control the selection of persons to represent them, although the voters have the formal possibility to choose specific candidates. More than 40% of the councilors are women.
