4 ms·

No you can’t really vote for an independent MP in the Swedish voting system. They would have to register a party, it’s very hard to win a seat, and there is no

No you can’t really vote for an independent MP in the Swedish voting system. They would have to register a party, it’s very hard to win a seat, and there is no guarantee that they will not win two or more seats – thus perpetuating the collectivism.

0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
At least you don't have the spoiler problem like 3rd parties in the US have though, right? Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat? In the US, for a 3rd party to win, something like 50% of the relevant electorate has to coordinate their vote to switch to the 3rd party. It sounds like in Scandinavia, the fraction of the electorate which needs to coordinate is just 1 / num_seats, which is way smaller. If I were a Swede, I would be tempted to troll everyone by setting up an "independents party". The seats for that party are allocated based on a separate vote, open to the public. Candidates of the "independents party" have absolutely no obligation to vote together, and act as free agents once they get elected. Sort of like a democracy-within-a-democracy.
- wqaatwt 1y ago
  It might be hard to convince people to vote for a party made up of random people who might have very contradictory views.
- viraptor 1y ago
  You're describing direct democracy parties and they exist in other places in non-trolly way. For example the Australian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Direct_Democracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Direct_Democracy
- bjornsing 1y ago
  > Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat? There are thresholds to avoid too many small parties / independents getting elected. You need to win 4% of the vote nationally or 12% regionally to get a single seat, and if you do then you typically get more than one. Congrats, you’re now a collectivist too. > If I were a Swede… I’ve considered it. :)

4 ms·

No you can’t really vote for an independent MP in the Swedish voting system. They would have to register a party, it’s very hard to win a seat, and there is no

by bjornsing 1y ago

0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
At least you don't have the spoiler problem like 3rd parties in the US have though, right? Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat? In the US, for a 3rd party to win, something like 50% of the relevant electorate has to coordinate their vote to switch to the 3rd party. It sounds like in Scandinavia, the fraction of the electorate which needs to coordinate is just 1 / num_seats, which is way smaller. If I were a Swede, I would be tempted to troll everyone by setting up an "independents party". The seats for that party are allocated based on a separate vote, open to the public. Candidates of the "independents party" have absolutely no obligation to vote together, and act as free agents once they get elected. Sort of like a democracy-within-a-democracy.
- wqaatwt 1y ago
  It might be hard to convince people to vote for a party made up of random people who might have very contradictory views.
- viraptor 1y ago
  You're describing direct democracy parties and they exist in other places in non-trolly way. For example the Australian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Direct_Democracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Direct_Democracy
- bjornsing 1y ago
  > Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat? There are thresholds to avoid too many small parties / independents getting elected. You need to win 4% of the vote nationally or 12% regionally to get a single seat, and if you do then you typically get more than one. Congrats, you’re now a collectivist too. > If I were a Swede… I’ve considered it. :)