Sweden and Duverger's Law

According to Duverger’s law, the effective number of parties in any electoral district is a function of electoral rules. (Hawkins) Consequently, SMDP electoral rules typically produce two significant parties, and Proportional rules produce many significant parties. In the case of the country of Sweden, this law holds true.

Sweden follows proportional electoral rules, specifically, a modified Sainte-Langue method. This method distributes seats according to the formula quot= V/(2s + 1), where V is the total number of votes a party receives, and s is the number of seats allocated to the part, which is initially zero. The party with the highest quotient receives a seat, and their quotient is then recalculated. (Wikipedia, Sainte Langue) Sweden modifies this method in the following way. All seats are not allocated in this manner. If it is determined that a party has not been properly awarded their share of seats, and they have more than four percent of national votes, or more than twelve percent of votes in their constituency, they are entitled to one of thirty nine adjustment seats. Votes are cast in a closed list, preferential format, with parliamentary elections held once every four years. If a seat is vacant, such as if a member died, are filled by substitute members chosen each previous election.  In this system, votes are cast for party lists, and if the voter so chooses, they can express preferences for individual candidates. In such cases. “the required threshold for election on the basis of personal votes is 8 percent of the total cast for the candidates party in the constituency concerned.” (IPU, Sweden Election Rules) Parties that received less than one percent of the national vote in the previous election are unable to have party ballots, and therefore, are not counted. (IFES Election Guide, Sweden)

As of September 19, 2010, when the last parliamentary general election occurred, nine parties out of twenty-one parties received seats, and therefore, had more than four percent of the national vote. District magnitude varies from two to thirty nine per district, with an average of approximately nine per district. (Wikipedia, General Elections in Sweden, 2010 ) According to the formula given in class, Neff=1/Σ(p^2), with Neff being the number of effective parties, and p being the percentage of seats each party received. Approximately, the formula, in Sweden’s case, ends up being Neff=1/.30724, which equals, 3.255. Sweden has about three effective political parties, which agrees with Duverger’s law. There are two major parties, the Social Democrats, and the Moderate Party, and a handful of little ones, who approximately equal the two major parties in numbers. Of course, alliances are formed in the Swedish Parliament in order to achieve the majority needed to pass legislation, which forces the Social Democrats, and the Moderates to make compromises, strengthening the position of the smaller parties. This is, precisely, the goal of the Swedish electoral system, protecting the rights of the minority parties, and weakening the power of the larger parties. Sweden has a strongly proportional electoral system, and as such, has more than two effective parties.  

In conclusion, Sweden effectively proves Duverger’s law. Sweden, with a highly proportional electoral system, a modified Sainte-Langue, in turn, as would be expected, has multiple effective parties. Sweden particularly protects the rights of smaller parties, allocating extra seats if a party has more than 4% of the national vote, or 12% in a constituency. Sweden has approximately 3.5 parties.

Works Cited.

Hawkins, Kirk. Syllabus. Blog 7: Duverger’s Law.

"Sainte-Langue." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Lagu%C3%AB_method>

“Swedish General Elections, 2010” Wikepedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_general_election,_2010>

"Sweden Electoral Rules." IPU PARLINE. Parline Database, n.d. Web. <http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2303_B.htm>

 “Election Guide for Sweden” Election Guide. IFES. Web. Nov 1. <http://electionguide.org/country.php?ID=206?