Healthcare and education are almost always at the top of voters' most important issues. And because national politicians like to make announcements about shorter queues, more teachers, and smaller child groups, it is easy to get the impression that the Riksdag decides details down to the operating room and classroom level.
But that is not the case.
Healthcare is managed by the regions and schools by the municipalities. Anyone who cares about doctor and teacher density should therefore familiarize themselves with how the local party organizations prioritize and vote based on that.
Because on the same day that the parliamentary election is decided, around 15,000 elected representatives are also elected into the assemblies of the 290 municipalities and 21 regions. In addition to that, politicians in committees, which among other things handle primary schools and healthcare centers, are added later. And if it is tough for the Liberals at the Ministry of Education and the Christian Democrats who hold the post of Minister for Health and Social Affairs, policy-wise it can be harder the closer you get to operations.
Politicians who promise not to duck the difficult decisions during the parliamentary term may be worth voting for.
Every local politician who has tried to close a school or a maternity ward knows this â and it is evident in the statistics.
Politicians who sit on municipal education committees and regional healthcare committees are too often affected by vulnerability and concern about crime, shows the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention's recent report "Consequences of elected representatives' vulnerability and concern". This leads to self-censorship, among other things, but can also cause politicians to change their stance or even resign from their posts, which is bad.
Partly because democracy is not about those who shout the loudest or resort to questionable methods getting their interests met at the expense of others. Partly because the country's healthcare as well as school politicians are facing tough times, where they will need to make unpopular decisions to consolidate resources.
How important the latter is can be seen in Denmark. There, productivity in healthcare improved, partly because politicians started letting quality take precedence over geographical proximity. More people are thus forced to travel further for care, but in return get better results for every krona spent.
That is how we also need to think about primary school, now that the number of students is estimated to decrease by around 170,000 over a decade (DN 19/8 2025). That corresponds to approximately 700 schools. And the only way to avoid paying for half-empty premises, in order to instead put the money into staff, is to dare to close some down.
Politicians who promise not to duck the difficult decisions during the term may be worth voting for. If not, they at least deserve our collective respect.
