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The Swedish constitution
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What does the Swedish term "Regeringsformen" mean?
Aaaarhg! There should be a law that MFF can't ever win Allsvenskan again! I'm gonna be a dictator, and prohibit things like this! You can't. You can't become a dictator.
Sweden is a democracy. Yeahyeah. But I'll make loads of promises, so that everyone votes for me. Then, when I'm the prime minister, I'll abolish democracy, and turn myself into a dictator! Mwahaha!
You haven't heard about the constitution, have you? Hmmm. The constitution yes. It's there to protect democracy. The constitution is a collection of laws, but they are a bit different.
They are above the other laws, because they are more difficult to change. In order to change one of the constitution laws, the Riksdag first has to make a decision about a change. But that's not enough. Then there needs to be another election to the Riksdag, and that the newly elected Riksdag makes the same decision once more. That's pretty smart.
Because, let's say Tommy would actually carry out his plan: He starts a political party, gets 51% of the vote, and thereby his own majority in the Riksdag. Then he uses this majority to push through a decision to change the constitution, abolish democracy, and make himself a dictator. But that's not enough. Because the act of law he wants to change is part of the constitution, it takes another election, and then a second decision. And now, when he has revealed his plan to become a dictator, not many want to vote for his party anymore.
So he can't force the second decision through, which was required to change the constitution. In order to change the Swedish constitution, it requires the Riksdag to make two identical decisions... ... and that there's an election in between those decisions. This prevents the Riksdag making hasty decisions, that might threaten democracy or people's freedoms and basic rights. Pretty clever isn't it?
Which acts of law are included in the constitution, then? There are four of them. They are: The Instrument of Government Act The Act of Succession The Freedom of the Press Act And the Freedom of Speech Act The Instrument of Government Act, deals with how Sweden is governed. These are the first two sentences in the Instrument of Government act: "All public power in Sweden proceeds from the people. The Swedish democracy is based on freedom of opinion, and on the free and equal right to vote." It's here, in the Instrument of Government act that our basic freedoms and rights are found, and it's here you'll find how and when we have elections to the Riksdag.
The next law in the constitution, the Act of succession, is about the King or Queen of Sweden. The order of succession determines who inherits the throne. Previously, we had a male order of succession in Sweden. That is, the head of state could only be a King. Then, the King and Queen had a daughter, princess Viktoria.
The Riksdag then changed this act of the constitution, and now it's the oldest child of the head of state that inherits the throne. Then comes two acts of the constitution that are related: The freedom of the press act, that has been around for a long time, and the Freedom of expression act, that came into effect in 1992. Together, these two laws ensure that anyone who wants may issue newspapers and books, write almost what we want to in a blog and express our opinions in television and on the radio. Those are the four acts. Then there is one more, which is almost part of the constitution: The Riksdag Act.
It regulates how the Riksdag should work, what it must do, and what it can't do. In order to change the Riksdag Act, it's enough with one decision in the Riksdag. But it requires that two thirds of the Riksdag vote for the change. It must be a qualified majority. Hmm.
Yeah... Well, I guess the lads just have to work harder next year.