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Swedes to shun EU elections: poll

Published: 14 Apr 09 18:00 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/18834/20090414/

More than half of Swedish voters do not plan to vote in the elections for the European parliament to be held on June 7th, a poll published on Tuesday showed.

A total of 48 percent said they planned to cast their ballots, while 52 percent said they would not, the Sifo poll conducted for Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio showed.

Sixty four percent said they had no interest or little interest in the elections.

In the 2004 European parliament elections, voter turnout in Sweden was a
meagre 37.8 percent.

The numbers are far below the usual turnout for elections in the country, which tends to hover around 80 percent.

Henrik Oscarsson, an election researcher at Gothenburg University, told Sveriges Radio he expected Swedes' interest to remain lukewarm in the run-up to the June 7th vote.

"There's not going to be any major increase if you look at these numbers, turnout is going to be around 40 percent but let's hope it's a little higher than that," he said.

He said the lack of interest and low voter turnout "hurts the European parliament's political legitimacy."

Sweden joined the European Union in 1995.

The Sifo poll questioned 1,000 people in Sweden from March 30th to April 2nd.

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.se)

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13:41 April 14, 2009 by summer
what else do you expect when the people incharge have not done much to enlighten the people on the need to vote.
13:46 April 14, 2009 by VikingHumpingWitch
This is one I can vote in. If loads of Swedes abstain, the non-Swedish EU citizens resident here will have disproportionately valuable votes. Think on.
17:46 April 14, 2009 by summer
i think you have a good idea vikinghumpingwitch
19:37 April 14, 2009 by Gurkhan
perhaps this just shows how well things are so far that the people do not need to request big changes; although it could also be the result of a distrust in the political system which brings deeper and deeper integration towards the EU...
19:46 April 14, 2009 by Markbase With An Invisible Silen
Can we vote for Europe to force Sweden to abolish Systemet and/or at least allow other shops to sell proper beer (maybe wine) until 23:00?

If so, I'm setting off to the ballot box forthwith.
20:10 April 14, 2009 by Madamlucylulu
Does anyone know where I can read about the different candidates?
04:08 April 28, 2009 by Marley420
Does anyone know which candidate is pro Pirate Bay?
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