page_title: Riksdag
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Riksdag / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A detailed distribution of seats in the Swedish Riksdag from every election between 1902 and 2018.
context_page_description: The Riksdag is the national legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members, elected proportionally and serving, from 1994 onwards, on fixed four-year terms.
  The constitutional functions of the Riksdag are enumerated in the Instrument of Government, and its internal workings are specified in greater detail in the Riksdag Act.
  The seat of the Riksdag is at Parliament House, on the island of Helgeandsholmen in the central parts of Stockholm. The Riksdag has its institutional roots in the feudal Riksdag of the Estates, by tradition thought to have first assembled in Arboga in 1435, and in 1866 following reforms of the 1809 Instrument of Government that body was transformed into a bicameral legislature with an upper chamber and a lower chamber.
  The most recent general election was held on 9 September 2018.
  Due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, the number of MPs participating in votes was temporarily lowered from 349 to 55 for a renewable period of two weeks starting 16 March.
context_section_description: The roots of the modern Riksdag can be found in a 1435 meeting in the city of Arboga, however only three of the estates were probably present the nobility, the clergy and the burghers. This informal organization was modified in 1527 by the first modern Swedish king Gustav I Vasa to include representatives from all the four social estates: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers (property-owning commoners in the towns such as merchants etc.), and the yeomanry (freehold farmers). This form of Ständestaat representation lasted until 1865, when representation by estate was abolished and the modern bicameral parliament established.  Effectively, however, it did not become a parliament in the modern sense until parliamentary principles were established in the political system in Sweden, in 1917.
  On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a bicameral legislature, consisting of Första kammaren or the First Chamber, with 155 members and Andra kammaren or the Second Chamber with 233 members. The First Chamber was indirectly elected by county and city councillors, while the Second Chamber was directly elected by universal suffrage. This reform was a result of great malcontent with the old Estates, which, following the changes brought by the beginnings of the  industrial revolution, was no longer able to provide representation for large segments of the population.
  By an amendment to the 1809 Instrument of Government, the general election of 1970 was the first to a unicameral assembly with 350 seats. The following general election to the unicameral Riksdag in 1973 only gave the Government the support of 175 members, while the opposition could mobilize an equal force of 175 members. In a number of cases a tied vote ensued, and the final decision had to be determined by lot. To avoid any recurrence of this unstable situation, the number of seats in the Riksdag was reduced to 349, from 1976 onwards.
caption: Historical distribution of seats in the Swedish Riksdag 1902-2018.
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