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Support for democracy weak among Sweden's youngsters: survey

The Local Sweden
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Support for democracy weak among Sweden's youngsters: survey
The Riksdag building in Stockholm. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad/TT

A new survey suggests many young people in Sweden are skeptical about the traditional format of democratic governance, and think the country being ruled by experts rather than politicians would be a good idea.

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A new survey suggests many young people in Sweden are skeptical about the traditional format of democratic governance, and think the country being ruled by experts rather than politicians would be a good idea.

The survey, carried out by analysis firm Kairos Future, was sent out to 6,000 Swedes. A majority of those aged 16-25 who responded said that "letting experts and not the Riksdag and government decide what is best for the country" is a very good, or quite good proposal.

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That 54 percent was comprised of a broad group from across Sweden and of different political backgrounds, reports Swedish newspaper ETC, who were first to write about the survey.

"I think young people have a feeling that politicians are incapable of solving the problems we face, whether it's the climate or migration. It's easy to think that politicians just sit in their sandbox and fight with each other, and that we therefore need experts to take over," Åsa Knaggård, who researches the relationship between science and politics at Lund University, told ETC.

"With the climate issue for example it's easy to think that it's urgent and experts should go in and curb the trend. But the problem then is, which experts get to decide?"

Some young people also favour a knowledge-based right to vote, according to the survey. A majority (51 percent) in the same 16-25 age group agreed that voting in a general election should not be a considered a right for those who "don't know anything about politics".

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