Some of you have received voting cards (röstkort) in the mail for the upcoming Swedish election. If you are an EU citizen and registered with the tax authority before August 20th then you ARE allowed to vote in the local election. Election day is on Sunday, September 19th. Your voting area is listed on your election card. Go in to the voting location, select the card for the party you wish to vote for, vote privately in a booth but putting the card in an envelope and leave the envelope with the voting authorities.
We encourage you to vote in Sweden because we don't want Sverigedemokraterna to gain any power in Lund. We want to tell them that their racist attitudes are not welcome here. Most of all, we encourage you to go out and meet the political parties on Stortorget in Lund. Most parties have a little election hut open every day - you can actually go there and question them about their policies. Find out which party fits you best!
We've made a guide for international students to the different political parties in Lund and what the center and "left wing" parties stances are on local and regional issues. If anyone wants to add to the guide please contact me!
Some of you have received voting cards (röstkort) in the mail for the upcoming Swedish election. If you are an EU citizen and registered with the tax authority before August 20th then you ARE allowed to vote in the local election. We've prepared a little guide for those of you that may be unfamiliar with Swedish politics.
Center/Right-Wing Parties
Moderaterna (The Moderates): center-right party, current ruling party
Centerpariet (The Center Party): agrarian and farmers party
Kristdemokraterna (The Christian Democrats): influenced by Christian values mainly evangelical
Folkpartiet (The People Party): right-wing party, most EU friendly of the parties
Sverigedemokraterna (The Sweden Democrats): racist right-wing party, hostile towards immigrants
Center/Left-wing parties
Socialdemokraterna (The Social Democrats): left-center party, workers' party with ties to the trade unions
Vänsterpartiet (The Left Party): Left-wing party - feminist, socialist values
Demokratis vänster (Democratic Left) Green and Red party that only exists in Lund
Miljöpartiet (The Environment Party): Green and social liberal, emphasis on environmental issues
Piratpartiet (The Pirate Party): pushes for reform of copyright laws and making file sharing legal
Kommunistiska partiet (The Communist Party): Communist
Feministiskt initiativ (Feminist Initiative): Feminist party
Here is the guide to the Center/left wing parties stances on local issues
Kommunistiska partiet:
Kommunalval (Municipal elections)
- Free buses and trains
- Lower the salaries for the politicians to that of the average working class man or woman
- Against privatizations in Lund
- Build more cheap and environmentally sound housing in Lund
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Against private health insurance
- Against private hospitals
- Free trains and buses throughout Skåne
- Against the free hospital selection
Piratpartiet:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- High speed internet for everyone in Lund with a max fee of 200 kr
- All students at the municipal schools should receive their own computer
- All culture that is financed by taxes should be available for free in digital form whenever possible.
- All municipal documents should be available to the citizens in digital form
- The municipality should only use open software such as Open Office
- The integrity of the citizens need to be protected and camera surveillance should be restrictive
Socialdemokraterna:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Wants to employ more teachers
- Renovate the schools in order to improve the working environment of the students
- Lower the number of children per adult in daycares
- Improve the high schools and reinvigorate the adult education system (Komvux)
- Build 900 new apartments every year
- Build 750 apartments for students over the next four years
- Make sure that the new housing is environmentally friendly
- More resources for libraries
- Lower food prices with the help of larger grocery stores in the city centers
- A mentor program for refugees and other newly arrived immigrants
Student issues
- Improve student welfare and loan
- More teacher-led time in the universities
- Create 44,000 new jobs at the universities
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Stop downsizing in the Skåne health system
- Raise the regional taxes to secure quality in the health sector
- Lower the waiting times at the emergency wards
- Health care for people under 20 should be completely free (today 300 kr per visit and a maximum of 1,000 kr per year)
- Cheaper dental care
- Build more railways
- Make it easier to get to Kastrup
- Low fares for buses and trains
- Student discount on buses should be at 30%
- All buses should be run on bio-fuel by 2015
- Make more places wheelchair accessible
- Lower the salary gap between men and women by the way of an equality pot of 100 million Swedish kr
- Full-time jobs should be a right
Miljöpartiet:
Kommunalval (Municipal election)
- Environmental and social interests should come before financial interests in the town planning
- Wants to create a new "Green Deal" for Lund with cooperation between businesses the university and environmental groups
- Lower carbon emissions in Lund
- That low energy housing should be the standard when renovating or constructing new buildings
- More nature reserves around Lund
- More resources to school health care
- Housing is a right and homelessness should be eradicated with the help of the concept "housing first" (all left wing parties agree with this).
- Encourage small local businesses
- Introduce a carbon tax that will be used to finance research into new environmentally friendly technology
- Make it easier to get out into the nature around Lund with the help of special nature buses.
- Restrict traffic in the Lund city center
- Create a student discount for the city buses.
- Build more cheap housing and student housing
- No more external shopping malls
- Make the municipality more democratic with the help of social media and more services on the municipality's website
- More money for libraries
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Free dental care before 25
- Reintroduce free health care for children
- Skåne should be climate neutral by 2016
- Lower carbon emissions in Skåne
- Remove the tax problems between Skåne and Denmark
- Wants to increase the cooperation between the region the municipality and the universities
Demokratisk Vänster:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Build housing for all, including housing for students
- Make it easier to live outside of Lund city
- Expand the bus and train service to the villages surrounding Lund
- Introduce more internships
- Create a cultural house in Lund that can be a meeting place for all inhabitants of the municipality
- Create summer work for the students so that they don't have to live on welfare
- Make Lund more attractive for summer studies-
- Make Lund more attractive during the summer by offering more cultural as well as other summer activities.
Vänsterpartiet:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Stop the cuts in the municipal services
- Build away the housing shortage
- Better and cheaper public transportation
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Free health care until you are 20
- De-privatize the pharmacies
- Create a maximum fee for dental care
- Introduce tariffs for heavy and polluting traffic in Skåne
- Lower the fares for train and buses and let half the fare be paid by taxes
- A student discount of 30%
- 6 hour work day for all regional employees
- Full-time jobs should be a right with part time a possibility
- The salary gap between men and women and between ethnic Swedes and non ethnic Swedes should be abolished
Happy voting!!!
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