Swedish election 2010

[Gustaf]

Also, I didn't think Indiana was one of the top 2, top 3 economic centres of the US? Just saying that it is affluent kind of understates both the richness and the size of Skåne.

Ah, but that's purely because the US is so infinitely larger than Sweden. Imagine if all of Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux and the British Isles were one country.

(You have more of a point in the para. above... but you won't find a decent parallel in the US except maybe Hawai'i or Aztlán. Texas doesn't begin to cut it.)

Of course what I was really saying is simply that Indiana has similar demographics and a vaguely comparable political culture. Texas doesn't.

But the difference in size is precisely what I'm accounting for! Texas constitues 1/12 of the US population (roughly 25 million/300 million) while Skåne is 13% of Sweden's population (1.2 million/9.2 million). California would be closer in terms of size, but it's different in too many other ways.

[Gustaf]

If it makes you happier, maybe we can think of it as Sweden's Bavaria?

[minionofmidas]

If it makes you happier, maybe we can think of it as Sweden's Bavaria?

Not perfect o/c, but much better.

[Gustaf]

If it makes you happier, maybe we can think of it as Sweden's Bavaria?

Not perfect o/c, but much better.

Since I always thought of Bavarai as the Texas of Germany, that works for me too.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sweden's Midlands? Though I don't think even Malmö really compares to the Birmingham/Black Country conurbation, so perhaps a Midlands without that... which is absurd.

Sweden's Cheshire?

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Now you're ignoring the whole part about how they want to be their own country, how everyone else wants them to be their own country, how they're not really Swedish, speaks a dialect no one understands and, at least at my university, constitute their own sect throwing their own parties.

We love you too...

Funny how you guys have the whole Skåne debate when I'm out of town and can't be defending my precious home region. I smell conspiracy.

Just for your information people in Skåne are't racist, we hate everyone equally. (Well maybe we hate people from Stockholm a little bit more, but everyone else we hate equally) We even hate eachother... seriously don't put fans of Helsingborg's football team near fans of Malmö's football team.


Anyway, let's be serious. I think the reason that the Sweden Democrats are so strong here can be explained by a whole number of factors. Skåne has traditionally been a strong-hold for xenophobic and racist views, something I personally believe has to do with our historic inheritance. There has also been a lot of trouble with certain groups of immigrants in places like Malmö and Landskrona, which unfortunatley has tainted the name of all immigrants. There is also in Skåne very much a feeling of anti-establishment, and if we aren't suppose to do something according to the big Stockholm-politicians chances are we will do it.

The results in Skåne are btw, probably the most intresting numbers this election. There seems to have been an almost universal loss for the Social Democrats of 8-10% (in other words more than double the national loss) in almost all cities in Skåne, which seem to have split pretty evenly between M and Sd.       

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I forgive you Gustaf After all what would Sweden be without some friendly rivalry between Skåne and Stockholm. (Har skåningar på Handelshögskolan verkligen sina egna fester?)


 

[minionofmidas]

Now you're ignoring the whole part about how they want to be their own country, how everyone else wants them to be their own country, how they're not really Swedish, speaks a dialect no one understands and, at least at my university, constitute their own sect throwing their own parties.

We love you too...

Funny how you guys have the whole Skåne debate when I'm out of town and can't be defending my precious home region. I smell conspiracy.

Just for your information people in Skåne are't racist, we hate everyone equally. (Well maybe we hate people from Stockholm a little bit more, but everyone else we hate equally) We even hate eachother... seriously don't put fans of Helsingborg's football team near fans of Malmö's football team.


Anyway, let's be serious. I think the reason that the Sweden Democrats are so strong here can be explained by a whole number of factors. Skåne has traditionally been a strong-hold for xenophobic and racist views, something I personally believe has to do with our historic inheritance. There has also been a lot of trouble with certain groups of immigrants in places like Malmö and Landskrona, which unfortunatley has tainted the name of all immigrants. There is also in Skåne very much a feeling of anti-establishment, and if we aren't suppose to do something according to the big Stockholm-politicians chances are we will do it.

The results in Skåne are btw, probably the most intresting numbers this election. There seems to have been an almost universal loss for the Social Democrats of 8-10% (in other words more than double the national loss) in almost all cities in Skåne, which seem to have split pretty evenly between M and Sd.       

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I forgive you Gustaf After all what would Sweden be without some friendly rivalry between Skåne and Stockholm. (Har skåningar på Handelshögskolan verkligen sina egna fester?)


 

The Flanders of Sweden?

[DL]

The main things I recall about Skane (sorry i don't know how to put the halo over the "a" on my keyboard!) is that people there talk like they have marbles in their mouths and also that its much more "continental" than the rest of Sweden, in fact that area was part of Denmark for centuries and so even the political attitudes are more "Danish" than "Swedish" and as we all know Denmark has had populist far right parties in their parliament for many, many years.

The one thing I don't understand about Swedish politics these days is why Stockholm has become such a "bourgeois" stronghold. It didn't used to be and this is very different from just about every other country in Europe. London tends to be far more leftwing in its voting patterns than the rest of England, in Germany, the SPD and Greens tend to totally dominate Berlin and Hamburg etc...Paris was once a Gaullist stronghold - but now its going in the opposite direction and Segolene Royale actually did better in Paris than in the rest of France and if you count the suburbs outside the 20 arrondissements - she would have won. Even if you look at other Nordic countries - Copenhagen tends to be left-leaning compared to the rest of Denmark and Oslo tends to vote similar to the rest of Norway.

So what is the story with Stockholm?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Didn't we have this discussion earlier in this thread? Ah, yes, we did... on and off for several pages: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=117604.15

But I think this discussion could benefit from some maps...

[Gustaf]

Now you're ignoring the whole part about how they want to be their own country, how everyone else wants them to be their own country, how they're not really Swedish, speaks a dialect no one understands and, at least at my university, constitute their own sect throwing their own parties.

We love you too...

Funny how you guys have the whole Skåne debate when I'm out of town and can't be defending my precious home region. I smell conspiracy.

Just for your information people in Skåne are't racist, we hate everyone equally. (Well maybe we hate people from Stockholm a little bit more, but everyone else we hate equally) We even hate eachother... seriously don't put fans of Helsingborg's football team near fans of Malmö's football team.


Anyway, let's be serious. I think the reason that the Sweden Democrats are so strong here can be explained by a whole number of factors. Skåne has traditionally been a strong-hold for xenophobic and racist views, something I personally believe has to do with our historic inheritance. There has also been a lot of trouble with certain groups of immigrants in places like Malmö and Landskrona, which unfortunatley has tainted the name of all immigrants. There is also in Skåne very much a feeling of anti-establishment, and if we aren't suppose to do something according to the big Stockholm-politicians chances are we will do it.

The results in Skåne are btw, probably the most intresting numbers this election. There seems to have been an almost universal loss for the Social Democrats of 8-10% (in other words more than double the national loss) in almost all cities in Skåne, which seem to have split pretty evenly between M and Sd.       

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I forgive you Gustaf After all what would Sweden be without some friendly rivalry between Skåne and Stockholm. (Har skåningar på Handelshögskolan verkligen sina egna fester?)


 

Ja, eller åtminstone en. Den heter något med gås, men jag minns inte det exakta namnet. Alla här är antingen skåningar eller stockholmare.

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I think DL might also have a point with how Skåne is more continental. I think that, in part, means a little bit less of traditional Swedish values, ironically enough.

And, Lewis, Flanders is a majority of Belgium which luckily is not the case with Skåne and Sweden just yet.

[Gustaf]

Something that may not have been mentioned in the previous discussion is that Sweden has always been very urban and is becoming more and more so.

This means that people in rural areas tend to be poor here - no rich farmers and no tradition of farmers identifying with the establishment.

It also means that prices and livings costs are very high in Stockholm making it more right-wing over time.

And of course, the countryside tends to be conservative in all countries and in Sweden that means clinging to the Social Democratic past.

[DL]

No city is more expensive than London - yet it keeps voting Labour!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

No city is more expensive than London - yet it keeps voting Labour!

But the expensive bits don't.

26% of households in London (GLA area) are socially rented compared with about 19.2 across England as a whole and around 15% in the two regions (South East and East) that surround London. In London there's a very close relationship between the Labour vote and the percentage of people in social housing and the parts of London were this isn't true are usually cheap-ish areas with massive minority populations (Southall, East Ham, southern Ilford, parts of north Croydon etc).
London has large areas that are essentially entirely proletarian; Stockholm doesn't. You have to remember that London was once the greatest port in the world (with the docks and sweatshops to match) and also a major domestic industrial centre. The docks are gone and the factories have mostly been downgraded or moved abroad or to Northern England/South Wales, but the impact on the social geography (and politics) of the city remains fundamental. London is a divided city; it may contain some of the richest streets on earth, but it also contains some of the poorest districts in western Europe.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Look, if Wales had had devolution from the nineteenth century onwards and had Cardiff developed as a capital rather than as a coal port, then Cardiff would vote well to the right of the rest of Wales and we'd think nothing of it.

[Gustaf]

No city is more expensive than London - yet it keeps voting Labour!

But the expensive bits don't.

26% of households in London (GLA area) are socially rented compared with about 19.2 across England as a whole and around 15% in the two regions (South East and East) that surround London. In London there's a very close relationship between the Labour vote and the percentage of people in social housing and the parts of London were this isn't true are usually cheap-ish areas with massive minority populations (Southall, East Ham, southern Ilford, parts of north Croydon etc).
London has large areas that are essentially entirely proletarian; Stockholm doesn't. You have to remember that London was once the greatest port in the world (with the docks and sweatshops to match) and also a major domestic industrial centre. The docks are gone and the factories have mostly been downgraded or moved abroad or to Northern England/South Wales, but the impact on the social geography (and politics) of the city remains fundamental. London is a divided city; it may contain some of the richest streets on earth, but it also contains some of the poorest districts in western Europe.

Also, I'm referring more to the relative stance within the nation. There is very little in the way of rural aristocracy in Sweden.

There are social housing-ish areas in Stockholm which vote left but they're very much out-voted. The area known as Kniv-Söder (Knife-South) in Södermalm, for instance, votes pretty leftist.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Results by the first subdivision shown (are these boroughs or statistical entities?) for the ten largest cities in Sweden. The usual leading party key. Bigger version on gallery, easy to reach via the magic of right-clicking.

[minionofmidas]

A map of Stockholm with at least the inner part of the Stockholms län tacked on would be nice here.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, I will do that at some point as well. At some point will also do a map of Stockholm (and a few other cities, not sure which) at the very low level. Fwiw, if anyone has any requests for areas they'd like maps done of, I'm happy to oblige; Sweden is a very interesting country.

[Hash]

Yeah, I will do that at some point as well. At some point will also do a map of Stockholm (and a few other cities, not sure which) at the very low level. Fwiw, if anyone has any requests for areas they'd like maps done of, I'm happy to oblige; Sweden is a very interesting country.

Lower-level maps of Gotland and Malmo would be interesting.

[Gustaf]

I think what you have there is probably the municipality, which is an administrative unit.

In the case of Stockholm the red parts aren't really part of the City, for instance. Certainly not more so than say Nacka or Solna, municipalities close to the city.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think what you have there is probably the municipality, which is an administrative unit.

In the case of Stockholm the red parts aren't really part of the City, for instance. Certainly not more so than say Nacka or Solna, municipalities close to the city.

Yes the outer boundaries are all municipal boundaries; I was wondering what the inner boundaries (labelled as 'kommunvalkrets') are, functionally. Are they just statistical entities (which I'd guess from the name) or do they have an administrative function as well? I find that sort of thing far more interesting than I should...

[Gustaf]

I think what you have there is probably the municipality, which is an administrative unit.

In the case of Stockholm the red parts aren't really part of the City, for instance. Certainly not more so than say Nacka or Solna, municipalities close to the city.

Yes the outer boundaries are all municipal boundaries; I was wondering what the inner boundaries (labelled as 'kommunvalkrets') are, functionally. Are they just statistical entities (which I'd guess from the name) or do they have an administrative function as well? I find that sort of thing far more interesting than I should...

Ah, right. I think those are merely statistical entities for election purposes. Kommunvalkrets means municipal constituency. There are "stadsdelar" which are administrative units within Stockholm.

They still correspond somewhat to something. The medium blue part in the middle is the City.

[Gustaf]

Speaker was elected today. The Social Democrats put up a joke candidate to try and make it look like the government's candidate was relying on SD to get elected. But one opposition MP voted with the government, one went to the bathroom and missed the vote and dear old drug addict Thomas Bodström is still too busy buying a house in the US to actually attend the sessions, so it didn't work.

[Хahar 🤔]

It's not particularly uncommon in third-world countries for urban areas to vote for the right. In 2001, for instance, the BNP swept Dhaka.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Fwiw, if anyone has any requests for areas they'd like maps done of, I'm happy to oblige; Sweden is a very interesting country.

I'd love a map of biggest coalition, as well as one for Sd support, on kommunvalkrets level for Skåne.

EDIT: Oh and some intresting news, yesterday during an interview with the deputy leader of the Sweden Democrats following the Opening of Parliament, he told the SVT reporter that the Sweden Democrats would not support the Red-Greens budget proposal, but introduce their own, which with the Swedish budget rules means that the goverments budget will pass.