To tour Riksdagshuset - The Swedish House of Parliament
BaroqueW and I showed up early on Saturday (the 5th of May, although it shames me to say I’ve put off writing this article that long) outside of the building in Gamla Stan. Typical of Sweden, there was construction going on so it was a bit messy and confusing. According to the building entrance, we were in the right place – main entrance. There was also a small entrance to one side that was nearly a funnel with construction creating a narrow tunnel with rough wooden planks to carry us “safely” over ditches. That entrance was supposed to be for guided tours, but it was small, cramped and no one was there. So we decided to camp out on the steps like hobos and surreptitiously check out other students who showed up for the tour.
Once in a while people would surge to the left, in the discovery of the secondary entrance… like sheep being led to the slaughter. It was extremely amusing. 8 people trapped in a tunnel because the last person can’t hear that the first person is saying that it’s a locked door never fails to amuse.
Eventually the woman who had sent us the email making the offer showed up, and complained that we should have been twice as many people. But I’m glad that we weren’t, because some of the rooms we were shown were quite small and I don’t think 30 people would have been able to comfortably view them. Like this lovely picture shows, of a committee room where apparently the “real” decisions are made.
That leads us to the actual tour, which was actually quite fascinating. Important things to know: Sweden is a democracy, and not the Russian kind of democracy but an actual democracy with voting and all that entails. Swedes are also extremely fanatic about all things being a matter of public record, so when you vote for someone or for a political party, you can see what THEY in turn vote for when they’re in office. Every member sits at a special assigned desk where they press buttons to vote on issues. The vote shows up both immediately on the wall in the room, and is recorded as well for the public records. No one can say that they’ll vote one way and then do something else without everyone knowing it. There is a special section to the back of the room for the media to stand in, as well as two glass walled rooms to each side for reporters and with balconies for photographers to stand on. Big brother is being watched.
There are 349 individuals elected every four years, which is a throw back from the days when there were two parties in constant clash with each other. So the original 350 created the possibility of 175 members from each party who were in permanent discord with each other who, just on the principle of the thing, refused to agree with each other which made getting anything done impossible.
are entitled to 7000sek in addition to their basic salary of 49,200sek (before tax.. yes, they pay tax) – per month – to make up for their needing to stay overnight in Stockholm for those 3 days.
It’s a cushy job with cushy seats.
That’s about as deeply interested as I got in that lecture. But you could get more information and details from Riksdagen’s Webpage.
The building itself looked quite nice. We had it entirely to ourselves. 
I probably learned more about Swedish politics and the political system on this day than I learned total through conversation, media, and my various Swedish classes.
I’ve maintained my political isolation and still have no interest in becoming a member in a political party, even if they do have cushy seats.
Category: Articles in English, Voyage / Travel | Comments (3)
