For elections to the European Parliament, the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament), county councils and municipal councils, Statistic Sweden presents statistics on nominated, elected and non-elected candidates in the general elections. The statistics cover information on the candidates, e.g. party affiliation, sex, age, income, education and place of birth. The information regarding nominated and elected candidates is an important source for studies on the social representation of popularly elected candidates. The main users of these statistics are the political parties, the mass media, the social scientists and the politically-interested general public.

Eligible to vote and eligible for election at the general elections

Generally, a person who has the right to vote in a general election is also eligible for election. However, in order to be elected to the European Parliament some special rules apply, e.g. the elected candidate is not allowed to also be a member of the Riksdag or to have a position in some of the EU institutions.

Eligible to vote in the European Parliament elections are Swedish citizens if they are aged 18 years at the latest by the election date and are registered or at some point have been registered in Sweden. Citizens of other EU member states are also entitled to vote if they are registered as resident in Sweden and they to apply to vote in writing to the county administrative board at the latest 30 days prior to the election, stating that they will not vote in any other member state.

How the statistics are produced

Statistics Sweden receives registers regarding the nominated and elected candidates from the Election Authority. Using these registers, together with background variables gathered from Statistics Sweden's different registers, Statistics Sweden produces statistics on nominated, elected and non-elected candidates.

The results presented in the tables are definitive and based on the election results. The circumstances might change due to substitutes of other sex, age, country of birth etc. and will consequently influence the distributions. Such changes are not covered by the results presented by Statistics Sweden.

Some definitions

Age

Age refers to age at the end of the year of election.

Country of birth

The information regarding country of birth has been gathered from the population register that is based on information from national registration.

Educational attainment

The information about educational attainment has been gathered from Statistics Sweden’s Swedish Register of Education, which contains information about highest attained education for persons 16-74 years old. The information comes from the register version established on the first of January each election year. The classification of educational attainment is in accordance with the Swedish Educational Terminology (SUN). Since 2001 the standard SUN 2000 has been used, and is presented in more detail in Reports on Statistical Co-ordination for the Official Statistics of Sweden (MIS) 2000:1.

Income

Income refers to the total income from employment and business, capital income is not included. The information about the income comes from administrative registers. The income classes are based on percentiles and are presented in the following categories: 0-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-100. They are calculated on the basis of the entire Swedish population 18 years or older. Persons who have no declared income or for other reasons have not declared any income are presented in a separate category. Accordingly, persons presented in the income category 0-20 are among the 20 per cent of the population, 18 years or older, who have the lowest incomes. The information refers to incomes during the year prior to the election year according to taxation in the election year.

Useful information

Publishing of results

The statistics regarding the nominated, elected and non-elected candidates are published as tables at Statistics Sweden's website and in statistical databases. Furthermore, statistics regarding the 2009 election to the European Parliament is presented in a chapter in Statistics Sweden’s publication European Parliament election in 2009, which will be published on June 22, 2010.

Other statistics

Following elections to the European Parliament, the Riksdag, county councils and municipal councils, Statistics Sweden also presents statistics on persons entitled to vote, election results, electoral participation and electoral behaviour. Similar presentations are made after national referenda (not regarding nominated and elected candidates).

The Election Authority also produces statistics on nominated and elected candidates in the European Parliament elections.

The Election Authority