Riksbron ( Swedish : "The National Bridge" or "The State Bridge") is an arch bridge in central Stockholm , Sweden, leading from Drottninggatan on Norrmalm 44 metres (144 ft) over to Riksgatan on Helgeandsholmen .
63-713: The name is derived from the bridge's proximity to several buildings of national importance, including Riksdagen , the Parliament Building; Rosenbad , the Prime Minister's Office and the Government Chancellery; and the Sager House , official residence of the Prime Minister . Nearby bridges include Stallbron , Norrbro , and Vasabron . Writing from his camp at Bender in 1712, King Charles XII (1682–1718)
126-536: A 4-year term . The Speaker is not allowed to vote, but the three deputies are allowed to vote. The speaker of the Riksdag nominates a Prime Minister ( Swedish : statsminister , literally minister of state) after holding talks with leaders of the various party groups in the Riksdag. The nomination is then put to a vote. The nomination is rejected (meaning the Speaker must find a new nominee) only if an absolute majority of
189-496: A 7.5 m (25 ft) wide carriageway flanked by two 3 m (9.8 ft) wide footways. A sluice gate regulating the water level of Lake Mälaren was later added under the bridge. 59°19′41.6″N 18°04′01.4″E / 59.328222°N 18.067056°E / 59.328222; 18.067056 Riksdag Confidence and supply (73) Opposition (173) The Riksdag ( Swedish: [ˈrɪ̌ksdɑː(ɡ)] , lit. transl. " diet of
252-429: A bridge with a single span was finally proposed in 1924 by engineer Thorleif Aronsson . This proposal resulted in the present construction designed by engineers Axel Björkman (1869–1957) and K A Wickert together with architect Ragnar Östberg (1866–1945). Inaugurated in 1931, it is a concrete portal frame with a central hinge , 44 m (144 ft) in length and 13.5 m (44 ft) in width, with
315-573: A candidate-based PR system, has only rarely been used to elect more than 21 in a single contest. Some PR systems use at-large pooling or regional pooling in conjunction with single-member districts (such as the New Zealand MMP and the Scottish additional member system ). Other PR systems use at-large pooling in conjunction with multi-member districts ( Scandinavian countries ). Pooling is used to allocate leveling seats (top-up) to compensate for
378-471: A few list-PR systems). A country-wide pooling of votes to elect more than a hundred members is used in Angola, for example. Where PR is desired at the municipal level, a city-wide at-large districting is sometimes used, to allow as large a district magnitude as possible. For large districts, party-list PR is often used, but even when list PR is used, districts sometimes contain fewer than 40 or 50 members. STV,
441-475: A number of seats roughly based on its population size (see degressive proportionality ) and in each member state, the election must also be held using a PR system (with proportional results based on vote share). The most widely used families of PR electoral systems are party-list PR, used in 85 countries; mixed-member PR (MMP), used in 7 countries; and the single transferable vote (STV), used in Ireland, Malta,
504-818: A party that has received at least twelve per cent of the votes in a constituency participates in the distribution of the fixed constituency seats in that constituency. Bibliography 59°19′39″N 18°04′03″E / 59.32750°N 18.06750°E / 59.32750; 18.06750 Proportional representation Condorcet methods Positional voting Cardinal voting Quota-remainder methods Approval-based committees Fractional social choice Semi-proportional representation By ballot type Pathological response Strategic voting Paradoxes of majority rule Positive results Proportional representation ( PR ) refers to any type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in
567-421: A proposal was passed for a bridge with three arches, inspired by the 18th-century bridge Norrbro just east of Riksbron. However, a smaller copy of the larger bridge was regarded as aesthetically unappealing, and the water loads from Lake Mälaren made the proposed bridge problematic. A permanent solution based on the three arch proposal was thereafter investigated but, for various reasons, never carried out, until
630-410: A salary of SEK 71,500 (around $ 6,300) per month. According to a survey investigation by the sociologist Jenny Hansson, Members of the Riksdag have an average work week of 66 hours, including side responsibilities. Hansson's investigation further reports that the average member sleeps 6.5 hours per night. The presidium consists of a speaker and three deputy speakers . They are elected for
693-599: Is a general term for " parliament " or "assembly", but it is typically only used for Sweden's legislature and certain related institutions. In addition to Sweden's parliament, it is also used for the Parliament of Finland and the Estonian Riigikogu , as well as the historical German Reichstag and the Danish Rigsdagen . In Swedish use, riksdagen is usually not capitalised. Riksdag derives from
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#1732855311824756-504: Is allocated seats based on its party share. Some party-list PR systems use overall country-wide vote counts; others count vote shares in separate parts of the country and allocate seats in each part according to that specific vote count. Some use both. List PR involves parties in the election process. Voters do not primarily vote for candidates (persons), but for electoral lists (or party lists ), which are lists of candidates that parties put forward. The mechanism that allocates seats to
819-420: Is also randomness – a party that receives more votes than another party might not win more seats than the other. Any such dis-proportionality produced by the district elections is addressed, where possible, by the allocation of the compensatory additional members. (Number of districts won) (party-list PR seats) under MMP MMP gives only as many compensatory seats to a party as they need to have
882-477: Is cast against the Prime Minister this means the entire government is rejected. A losing government has one week to call for a general election or else the procedure of nominating a new Prime Minister starts anew. No party has won a single majority in the Riksdag since 1968. Political parties with similar agendas consequently cooperate on several issues, forming coalition governments or other formalized alliances. Two major blocs existed in parliament until 2019,
945-419: Is described here. The mixed-member proportional system combines single member plurality voting (SMP), also known as first-past-the-post (FPTP), with party-list PR in a way that the overall result of the election is supposed to be proportional. The voter may vote for a district candidate as well as a party. The main idea behind MMP is compensation , meaning that the list-PR seat allocation is not independent of
1008-456: Is more complicated than first-past-the-post voting , but the following example shows how the vote count is performed and how proportionality is achieved in a district with 3 seats. In reality, districts usually elect more members than that in order to achieve more proportional results. A risk is that if the number of seats is larger than, for example, 10 seats, the ballot will be so large as to be inconvenient and voters may find it difficult to rank
1071-542: Is no need for a single office (e.g. a president, or mayor) to be elected proportionately if no votes are for parties (subgroups). In the European Parliament , for instance, each member state has a number of seats that is (roughly) proportional to its population, enabling geographical proportional representation. For these elections, all European Union (EU) countries also must use a proportional electoral system (enabling political proportional representation): When n % of
1134-484: Is not considered to make an electoral system "proportional" the way the term is usually used. For example, the US House of Representatives has 435 members, who each represent a roughly equal number of people; each state is allocated a number of members in accordance with its population size (aside from a minimum single seat that even the smallest state receives), thus producing equal representation by population. But members of
1197-546: Is required for a party to enter the Riksdag, alternatively 12% or more within a constituency. Substitutes for each deputy are elected at the same time as each election, so by-elections are rare. In the event of a snap election , the newly elected members merely serve the remainder of the four-year term. The electoral system in Sweden is proportional . Of the 349 seats in the unicameral Riksdag, 310 are fixed constituency seats allocated to 29 multi-member constituencies in relation to
1260-564: Is the most recent general election . The constitutional mandates of the Riksdag are enumerated in the Instrument of Government ( Regeringsformen ), and its internal workings are specified in greater detail in the Riksdag Act ( Riksdagsordningen ). The seat of the Riksdag is at Parliament House ( Riksdagshuset ), on the island of Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm , in Gamla stan ,
1323-580: Is used with 5-member districts, it is common for successful candidates to receive 16.6 percent of the vote in the district. This produces a high effective threshold in the districts, and the country maintains a very strong two-party system. However, about 4000 voters in a district would be enough to elect a third-party candidate if voters desired but this seldom happens. Conversely, New South Wales, which uses STV to elect its legislative council in 21-seat contests, sees election of representatives of seven or eight parties each time. In this election about 1/22nd of
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#17328553118241386-642: The Australian Senate , and Indian Rajya Sabha . Proportional representation systems are used at all levels of government and are also used for elections to non-governmental bodies, such as corporate boards . All PR systems require multi-member election contests, meaning votes are pooled to elect multiple representatives at once. Pooling may be done in various multi-member voting districts (in STV and most list-PR systems) or in single countrywide – a so called at-large – district (in only
1449-569: The genitive of rike , referring to royal power, and dag , meaning diet or conference; the German word Reichstag and the Danish Rigsdag are cognate . The Oxford English Dictionary traces English use of the term "Riksdag" in reference to the Swedish assembly back to 1855. The roots of the modern Riksdag can be found in a 1435 meeting in the city of Arboga ; however, only three of
1512-493: The realm " ; also Swedish : riksdagen [ˈrɪ̌ksdan] or Sveriges riksdag [ˈsvæ̌rjɛs ˈrɪ̌ksdɑː(ɡ)] ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden . Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members ( riksdagsledamöter ), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, fixed four-year terms. The 2022 Swedish general election
1575-474: The socialist / green Red-Greens and the conservative / liberal Alliance . The latter—consisting of the Moderate Party, Liberals, Centre Party, and Christian Democrats—governed Sweden from 2006 through most of 2014 (after 2010 through a minority government ). The Red-Greens combination disbanded on 26 October 2010 but continued to be considered the main opposition until the 2014 election, following which
1638-534: The 200-seat legislature as large as in the examples that follow, about 67 three-seat districts would be used. Districts with more seats would provide more proportional results – one form of STV in Australia uses a district with 21 members being elected at once. With a larger district magnitude, it is more likely that more than two parties will have some of their candidates elected. For example, in Malta , where STV
1701-768: The 349 members are women. Five parties have a majority representation of female MPs as of 2022: the Left Party (17 of 24, 70.8%), the Green Party (12 of 18, 66.7%), the Liberals (9 of 16, 56.3%), the Center Party (13 of 24, 54.2%), and the Social Democratic Party (55 of 107, 51.4%). The party with the lowest share of female MPs is the Sweden Democrats (18 of 73, 24.7%). Members of the Riksdag are full-time legislators with
1764-589: The Constitution) enacted in 1974, that task was removed from the Monarch of Sweden and given to the Speaker of the Riksdag. To make changes to the Constitution under the new Instrument of Government, amendments must be approved twice, in two successive electoral periods with a regular general election held in between. There are 15 parliamentary committees in the Riksdag. As of September 2022, 163 members, or 46.7% of
1827-558: The House are elected in single-member districts generally through first-past-the-post elections : a single-winner contest does not produce proportional representation as it has only one winner. Conversely, the representation achieved under PR electoral systems is typically proportional to a district's population size (seats per set amount of population), votes cast (votes per winner), and party vote share (in party-based systems such as party-list PR ). The European Parliament gives each member state
1890-452: The Monarch that the Riksdag has elected a new Prime Minister and that the Prime Minister has chosen his cabinet ministers. The Riksdag can cast a vote of no confidence against any single cabinet minister ( Swedish : statsråd ), thus forcing a resignation. To succeed, a vote of no confidence must be supported by an absolute majority (175 members) or it has failed. If a vote of no confidence
1953-519: The Second Chamber with 233 members. The First Chamber was indirectly elected by county and city councillors, while the Second Chamber was directly elected by universal suffrage. This reform was a result of great discontent with the old Estates, which, following the changes brought by the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution , was no longer able to provide representation for large segments of
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2016-534: The Social Democrats and the Green Party formed a government with support from the Left Party. In 2019, after the 2018 election in which neither bloc won a majority of seats, the Social Democrats and Green Party formed a government with support from the Liberals and Centre Party, breaking the center-right Alliance. In March 2019, the Christian Democrats and Moderate Party signaled a willingness to talk with
2079-405: The Sweden Democrats. All 349 members of the Riksdag are elected in the general elections held every four years. All Swedish citizens who turn 18 years old no later than on the day of the election and have at one point been registered residents are eligible to vote. To stand for election, a candidate must be eligible to vote and be nominated by a political party. A minimum of 4% of the national vote
2142-665: The US House of Representatives). Votes and seats often cannot be mathematically perfectly allocated, so some amount of rounding has to be done. The various methods deal with this in different ways, although the difference is reduced if there are many seats – for example, if the whole country is one district. Party-list PR is also more complicated in reality than in the example, as countries often use more than one district, multiple tiers (e.g. local, regional and national), open lists or an electoral threshold . This can mean that final seat allocations are frequently not proportional to
2205-433: The absence or insufficient number of leveling seats (in list PR, MMP or AMS) may produce disproportionality. Other sources are electoral tactics that may be used in certain systems, such as party splitting in some MMP systems. Nonetheless, PR systems approximate proportionality much better than other systems and are more resistant to gerrymandering and other forms of manipulation. Proportional representation refers to
2268-412: The candidates determine the winner. This is done using a preferential ballot . The ranking is used to instruct election officials of how the vote should be transferred in case the first preference is marked for an un-electable candidate or for an already elected candidate. Each voter casts one vote and the district used elects multiple members (more than one, usually 3 to 7). Because parties play no role in
2331-510: The context of voting systems, PR means that each representative in an assembly is elected by a roughly equal number of voters. In the common case of electoral systems that only allow a choice of parties, the seats are allocated in proportion to the vote tally or vote share each party receives. The term proportional representation may be used to mean fair representation by population as applied to states, regions, etc. However, representation being proportional with respect solely to population size
2394-529: The disproportional results produced in single-member districts using FPTP or to increase the fairness produced in multi-member districts using list PR. PR systems that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to use as general pooling as possible (typically country-wide) or districts with large numbers of seats. Due to various factors, perfect proportionality is rarely achieved under PR systems. The use of electoral thresholds (in list PR or MMP), small districts with few seats in each (in STV or list PR), or
2457-504: The elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions ( political parties ) among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone. Under other election systems, a bare plurality or a scant majority are all that are used to elect candidates. PR systems provide balanced representation to different factions, reflecting how votes are cast. In
2520-463: The election are as follows (popular vote). Under party-list PR, every party gets a number of seats proportional to their share of the popular vote. This is done by a proportional formula or method; for example, the Sainte-Laguë method – these are the same methods that may be used to allocate seats for geographic proportional representation (for example, how many seats each states gets in
2583-432: The electorate support a particular political party or set of candidates as their favourite, then roughly n % of seats are allotted to that party or those candidates. All PR systems aim to provide some form of equal representation for votes but may differ in their approaches on how they achieve this. Party-list PR is the most commonly used version of proportional representation. Voters cast votes for parties and each party
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2646-488: The estates were probably present: the nobility , the clergy and the burghers . This informal organization was modified in 1527 by the first modern Swedish king, Gustav I Vasa , to include representatives from all the four social estates : the nobility , the clergy, the burghers (property-owning commoners in the towns such as merchants etc.), and the yeomanry ( freehold farmers). This form of Ständestaat representation lasted until 1866, when representation by estate
2709-446: The example below, the Droop quota is used and so any candidate who earns more than 25 percent of the vote is declared elected. Note that it is only possible for 3 candidates to each achieve that quota. In the first count, the first preference (favourite candidate) marked on each of the ballots is counted. Candidates whose vote tally equals or passes the quota are declared elected as shown in
2772-497: The example below. (first preferences) Next, surplus votes belonging to those already elected, votes the candidates received above the quota (votes that they did not need to be elected), are transferred to the next preference marked by the voters who voted for them. Continuing the example, suppose that all voters who marked first preference for Jane Doe marked John Citizen as their second choice. Based on this, Jane Doe's surplus votes are transferred to John Citizen, John Citizen passes
2835-530: The general principle found in any electoral system in which the popularly chosen subgroups (parties) of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. To achieve that intended effect, proportional electoral systems need to either have more than one seat in each district (e.g. single transferable vote ), or have some form of compensatory seats (e.g. mixed-member proportional representation apportionment methods ). A legislative body (e.g. assembly, parliament) may be elected proportionally, whereas there
2898-401: The many candidates, although 21 are elected through STV in some elections with no great difficulty. (In many STV systems, voters are not required to mark more choices than desired. Even if all voters marked only one preference, the resulting representation would be more balanced than under single-winner FPTP.) Under STV, an amount that guarantees election is set, which is called the quota . In
2961-473: The members (175 members) vote "no"; otherwise, it is confirmed. This means the Riksdag can consent to a Prime Minister without casting any "yes" votes. After being elected the Prime Minister appoints the cabinet ministers and announces them to the Riksdag. The new Government takes office at a special council held at the Royal Palace before the Monarch , at which the Speaker of the Riksdag formally announces to
3024-421: The number of people entitled to vote in each constituency. The remaining 39 adjustment seats are used to correct the deviations from proportional national distribution that may arise when allocating the fixed constituency seats. There is a constraint in the system that means that only a party that has received at least four per cent of the votes in the whole country participates in the distribution of seats. However,
3087-414: The number of seats in the Riksdag was reduced to 349, from 1976 onwards. The Riksdag performs the normal functions of a legislature in a parliamentary democracy . It enacts laws, amends the constitution and appoints a government. In most parliamentary democracies, the head of state commissions a politician to form a government. Under the new Instrument of Government (one of the four fundamental laws of
3150-488: The number of seats of each party be proportional. Another way to say this is that MMP focuses on making the outcome proportional. Compare the MMP example to a mixed-member majoritarian system, where the party-list PR seat allocation is independent of the district results (this is also called parallel voting ). There is no compensation (no regard to how the district seats were filled) when allocating party-list seats so as to produce
3213-551: The old town of Stockholm. The Riksdag has its institutional roots in the feudal Riksdag of the Estates , traditionally thought to have first assembled in Arboga in 1435. In 1866, following reforms of the 1809 Instrument of Government , that body was transformed into a bicameral legislature with an upper chamber ( första kammaren ) and a lower chamber ( andra kammaren ). The Swedish word riksdag , in definite form riksdagen ,
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#17328553118243276-419: The parties' vote share. The single transferable vote is an older method than party-list PR, and it does not need to formally involve parties in the election process. Instead of parties putting forward ordered lists of candidates from which winners are drawn in some order, candidates run by name, each voter marks preferences for candidates, with only one marked preference used to place the vote, and votes cast for
3339-408: The parties/lists is how these systems achieve proportionality. Once this is done, the candidates who take the seats are based on the order in which they appear on the list. This is the basic, closed list version of list PR. An example election where the assembly has 200 seats to be filled is presented below. Every voter casts their vote for the list created by their favourite party and the results of
3402-508: The party's seats. 81 percent of the voters saw their first choice elected. At least 15 percent of them (the Doe first, Citizen second voters) saw both their first and second choices elected – there were likely more than 15 percent if some "Citizen first" votes gave their second preference to Doe. Every voter had satisfaction of seeing someone of the party they support elected in the district. for candidates of party Under STV, to make up
3465-542: The population. By an amendment to the 1809 Instrument of Government , the general election of 1970 was the first to a unicameral assembly with 350 seats. The following general election to the unicameral Riksdag in 1973 gave the Government the support of only 175 members, while the opposition could mobilize an equal force of 175 members. In a number of cases a tied vote ensued, and the final decision had to be determined by lot. To avoid any recurrence of this unstable situation,
3528-409: The quota and so is declared elected to the third and last seat that had to be filled. Even if all of Fred Rubble's surplus had gone to Mary Hill, the vote transfer plus Hill's original votes would not add up to quota. Party B did not have two quotas of votes so was not due two seats, while Party A was. It is possible, in realistic STV elections, for a candidate to win without quota if they are still in
3591-528: The results of the district level voting. First-past-the-post is a single winner system and cannot be proportional (winner-takes-all), so these disproportionalities are compensated by the party-list component. A simple, yet common version of MMP has as many list-PR seats as there are single-member districts. In the example it can be seen, as is often the case in reality, that the results of the district elections are highly disproportional: large parties typically win more seats than they should proportionally, but there
3654-421: The running when the field of candidates has thinned to the number of remaining open seats. In this example, the district result is balanced party-wise. No one party took all the seats, as frequently happens under FPTP or other non-proportional voting systems. The result is fair – the most popular party took two seats; the less popular party took just one. The most popular candidates in each party won
3717-468: The time and, lacking both funding and manpower, the project had to be irrevocably postponed. In 1794 the architect Erik Palmstedt (1741–1803) made an unsuccessful attempt to have the bridge realized. A permanent bridge with three arches was proposed in 1898, before a provisional truss bridge with a wooden footway was built in 1907, four metres (13 ft) in width and height. Lacking in dignity, it soon became known as Råttfällan , "The Mousetrap". In 1915
3780-402: The vote count, STV may be used for nonpartisan elections, such as the city council of Cambridge, Massachusetts . A large proportion of the votes cast are used to actually elect someone so the result is mixed and balanced with no one voting block taking much more than its due share of the seats. Where party labels are indicated, proportionality party-wise is noticeable. Counting votes under STV
3843-481: The vote in the state is enough to take a seat, and seven or eight parties take at least that many votes, demonstrating a different voting pattern than Malta exhibits. Mixed-member proportional representation combines election of district members with election of additional members as compensatory top-up. Often MMP systems use single-member districts (SMDs) to elect district members. (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden use multi-member districts in their MMP systems.) MMP with SMDs
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#17328553118243906-480: Was abolished and the modern bicameral parliament established. Effectively, however, it did not become a parliament in the modern sense until parliamentary principles were established in the political system in Sweden, in 1917. On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a bicameral legislature, consisting of Första kammaren or the First Chamber, with 155 members and Andra kammaren or
3969-458: Was the first to suggest a bridge extending Drottninggatan over to Helgeandsholmen. In a drawing dated from 1713 the king's architect, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654–1728), not only proposed a new bridge but also wanted to have the street extended much further south, across Helgeandsholmen and over to Mynttorget next to the Royal Palace on Stadsholmen . However, Sweden was at war with Russia at
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