Boston Blatte

Voting in the 2010 Swedish elections opened up to pre-voting yesterday. I like this idea of having nearly 3 weeks to get to the polls to vote. No need to wait until election day. (find where you can pre-vote here)

And election polls aren’t just fuddy-duddy municipal buildings any more. Pre-voting stations are open in shopping malls and gallerias, like the swanky Västermalm Galleria on Kungsholmen, in addition to the traditional venues like libraries and schools

I’ve been thinking of voting early to get it done. We’re clear since our voting cards arrived arrived last week.

And unlike your average Swede, I am not secretive about my vote. I’ve only ever voted right-wing here. Ironic when I can get screamed at for being part of the “Liberal Elite” (which is left-wing for any Swedes not sure of what that means.) But I’m still not sure which party or parties (could be different for the local, county and national elections) I’m going to submit my vote for yet.

As for the Swedes being secretive about their vote. It’s ingrained into the polite-manner fabric of Swedish society that you need never reveal your vote. I have even heard of spouses not revealing their vote to one another.

One other Swedish (and maybe it’s European in general) cultural element that I cannot align with is the idea of pay day (it’s the 25th of the month) being a time to let loose and party. I do understand that when a seeming windfall appears in your bank account it feels like the right time to go out and enjoy it. But I’m very confused by glorifying it in the political campaign message below used by the Moderate Party (Sweden’s closest version of the Republican Party).
The text Den 25:E Bara en av många anledningar till varfor fler ska ha ett jobb. rough translation: The 25th. Only one of many reasons to why more people should have a job.

Obviously it promotes the idea that people who have jobs (Sweden is trying to create jobs and the right-wing Alliance wants to point out that jobs have been created due to the ROT and RUT (tax breaks on the labor costs of construction/home improvement and household services) get the benefits of able to party like it’s payday.

But it does go against the core financial values of a conservative party, namely prudent budgeting and not wild binge spending. They are trying to modernize their image, they’re the “New” Moderates now after all. Or maybe they’re just trying to attract the working class with a stereotype?

I will hold off a bit longer on my pre-vote. It might end up being a straight out vote on the 19th.

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Tags: moderaterna, rot-avdrag, rut-avdrag, sweden, swedish elections, västermalm galleria

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.