Turnout: 55.27%
About this election
Sweden held its European Parliament election on 26 May 2019, choosing 20 members (a figure that rose to 21 after the United Kingdom's departure from the EU). The Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna) finished first with 23.48% and five seats, ahead of the Moderate Party on 16.83% and four seats. The night's biggest movements came on the flanks: the Sweden Democrats climbed to 15.34% and three seats, while the Christian Democrats more than doubled their support to 8.62% under their energetic new leader Ebba Busch. Turnout was 55.27%, sharply up on previous European elections and part of a continent-wide surge in participation.
Members of the European Parliament are elected in Sweden in a single nationwide constituency by open-list proportional representation using the modified Sainte-Laguë method, with a 4% threshold. Voters may cast a personal-preference vote for an individual candidate as well as choosing a party list. Because the whole country forms one constituency, the European election is the one Swedish national contest with no regional seat allocation. Swedish and other EU citizens resident in Sweden are both entitled to vote.
The election was fought against the backdrop of the climate debate — the "Greta Thunberg effect" was at its height — Brexit, and the question of the EU's future direction. Climate and the environment were the leading concern of Swedish voters, which helped both the Greens and the parties that emphasised EU-level climate action. The Sweden Democrats, traditionally Eurosceptic, dropped their earlier demand to leave the EU but campaigned against deeper integration.
Beyond the top three, the Greens (Miljöpartiet) took 11.52% and three seats — a fall from their 2014 high but still a strong showing — the Centre Party 10.78% and two seats, the Christian Democrats 8.62% and two, the Left Party 6.80% and one, and the Liberals 4.13% and one. The feminist party Feministiskt Initiativ, which had won a seat in 2014, lost it. The result broadly tracked the national mood: a strong centre-left, a rising radical right and a Christian-Democrat revival that would carry into the 2022 general election.
Sweden's MEPs took their seats in a European Parliament reshaped by the gains of greens, liberals and the far right across the continent and by the imminent loss of the UK's delegation. When Brexit took effect in 2020, Sweden gained a 21st seat, which went to the Sweden Democrats. The election confirmed the Christian Democrats' recovery and the Sweden Democrats' steady normalisation, both of which would be decisive three years later.
Swedish Election Authority (Valmyndigheten) — val.se.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.