| I am not quite sure at what level of detail you want an answer, but
I'll start at the general level, which goes for all Scandinavian
countries. This is to contrast our electoral systems with those of the
US, UK, Germany, etc. At this general level, the systems in the
Scandinavian coutries can be considered the same, though some details
will vary from one to the other.
We have parliamentary systems (not US style). This means, in essence,
that the "Executive" and "Legislative" powers are (in practice) not
separate powers ov government. At the extreme formal level, the monarch
is the Executive, and is non-elected (Finland has an indirectly elected
president). In practice, everything executed or decided by "the king"
is really done by the government in power, i.e., the Prime Minister or
ministers of the cabinet.
All power eminates from the national legislature (Riksdag (Sw),
Storting (Nw), Folketing (Dk)). A new Prime Minister is asked by the
Monarch (in Sweden, I believe by the Riksdag president) to "form a
government". After selecting cabinet members, the Prime Minister must
get the approval of a majority of the legislature in order to BE the
prime minister & government. Unlike the UK, the government (cabinet)
members do NOT have to be selected from the legislature itself. The
Prime minister (& prime minister candidates) are usually the head of
the largest party in parliament, or the head of a coalition of parties
that constitute the majority in parliament. The prime minister and
government govern solely at the approval of a majority in the
parliament and they can get a "no confidence" vote at any time. When
this occurrs, they must resign and the procedure starts at the
beginning of this paragraph once more.
The only national election is the election to the legislature
(parliament). This is done by the voters selecting "party lists" and
placing them in the ballot box. The lists of candidates are by
"county/province" (L�n in Sw, Fylke in Nw,..); each party's list is
long enough to fill ALL positions in the province (in the unlikely
event that they should win all of them). Essentially all candidates are
"at large" candidates within the province, and the seats allocated to
the province are filled in proportion to the percentage of votes that
each party gets (candidates being in priority of how they appear on the
lists). Local laws may vary on write-in or "cumulation" (voter striking
names off lists or adding them) before lists are placed in the ballot
boxes. Note that this contrasts with both the UK and US systems, where
one geographical unit (e.g., Congressional District in the US) only has
one seat; this will encourage the developement of a two-party system.
Since the above system will not be 100% "fair" due to funny effects
between counties, each country usually provides some formula for
national at-large candidates or "evening-out" seats. There is also
usually a stipulated "lower limit" (say 3% or 4%) which a party must
achiev in order to be represented at all.
In both Sweden and Norway, elections only occurr at stipulated
intervals; in Sweden every 3 years, in Norway every 4 years, but with
local and national elections alternating every 2 years. In Denmark,
elections can also be held as a result of "parliament being dismissed"
(a bit like the UK), but this is usually done when there is an impasse,
and is not solely decided by the sitting prime minister as in the UK.
If this does not occurr, I believe the Danish elections are every 4th
year.
How are candidates selected? As in most countries, this is a matter for
each of the parties themselves. Here the candidates for each province's
list are selected AND their priority on the lists determined (usually
in party meetings not unlike US caucuses).
In all the above, I have explained the rules, and not gone into all the
politicking, influencing, lobbying, jockeying for position, etc., which
is the REAL part of the political process.
Mauritz
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