Who are most likely to vote in Swedish local elections?

Riksdag, municipal council and regional council elections will be held on September 11, 2022. Sweden is one of the most liberal countries in Europe when it comes to giving the right to vote to people who do not have Swedish citizenship in municipal council and regional council elections. Does the type of residence permit affect the differences in voter turnout? Are there differences in refugees' voter turnout based on country of origin, gender and whether they have obtained Swedish citizenship? In connection to the election 2022, Delmi's new Policy brief describes the voter turnout of the ten largest refugee groups in Sweden in the most recent elections in 2018.

Some overall conclusions

Refugees vote to a greater extent than people who have come to Sweden as family immigrants, and labour immigrants have the lowest voter turnout of the three groups.
The results show that women and those who have obtained Swedish citizenship have a higher voter turnout, compared with men and those who do not have Swedish citizenship.
The tendency to vote increases the longer people have lived in Sweden, regardless of the type of residence permit they have.
Lastly, we can see differences in voter turnout with regard to the country of origin of refugees, where people born in Somalia have the highest voter turnout.

About the author

The Policy brief is written by Pieter Bevelander, Professor of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) at Malmö University and delegation member at Delmi.

Delmi Policy Brief 2022:7 is published on June 7, 2022.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Who are most likely to vote in Swedish local elections? Local voter turnout among foreign-born in Sweden.

Some overall conclusions

About the author

Download the Policy Breif (only available in Swedish)