Karlstad Municipality
Karlstads kommun
Municipality
Karlstad Courthouse
Karlstad Courthouse
Coat of arms of Karlstad Municipality
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 59°23′N 13°32′E / 59.383°N 13.533°E / 59.383; 13.533
CountrySweden
CountyVärmland County
SeatKarlstad
Government
 • Chairman of City Executive BoardPer-Samuel Nisser (M)
 • Deputy Chairs of City Executive BoardLinda Larsson (S) and Maria Frisk (MP)
Area
[1]
 • Total1,517.74 km2 (586.00 sq mi)
 • Land1,169.11 km2 (451.40 sq mi)
 • Water348.63 km2 (134.61 sq mi)
 Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population
 (31 December 2023)[2]
 • Total97,233
 • Density64/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeSE
ProvinceVärmland
Municipal code1780
Websitewww.karlstad.se

Karlstad Municipality (Swedish: Karlstads kommun) is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Karlstad.

The present municipality was established in 1971 when the former City of Karlstad was amalgamated with a number of surrounding rural municipalities.

Localities

Politics

Municipalities are responsible for government-mandated duties, and elections for the Municipal council are held every four years, parallel to the general elections.

Until the 2010s inhabitants of Karlstad had a tendency to vote close to the national results at the general elections, making it the generally accepted bellwether town of Sweden.[3][4] In 2022 this had decisively changed, with the winning right coalition performing seven points better overall than it did in Karlstad, with the bellwether municipalities instead being previous Social Democats-dominated post-industrial towns in Bergslagen a bit northeast of Karlstad.

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Karlstad Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.[5]

In total there were 95,290 residents, including 74,827 Swedish citizens of voting age.[5] 52.5% voted for the left coalition and 46.4% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Elections

Riksdag

These are the local results of the Riksdag elections since the 1972 municipality reform. The results of the Sweden Democrats were not published by SCB between 1988 and 1998 at a municipal level to the party's small nationwide size at the time. "Votes" denotes valid votes, whereas "Turnout" denotes also blank and invalid votes.

Year Turnout Votes V S MP C L KD M SD ND
1973[6] 92.0 47,969 4.2 45.0 0.0 24.3 10.1 0.8 15.0 0.0 0.0
1976[7] 92.6 50,261 3.8 41.8 0.0 22.6 12.1 0.5 18.8 0.0 0.0
1979[8] 91.6 51,435 4.8 43.5 0.0 16.1 10.0 0.6 24.2 0.0 0.0
1982[9] 92.2 52,341 5.0 46.4 1.8 13.2 5.7 1.0 26.9 0.0 0.0
1985[10] 90.5 52,538 4.8 45.2 1.9 9.2 14.6 0.0 24.3 0.0 0.0
1988[11] 85.8 50,120 5.2 44.4 5.2 10.4 12.6 1.8 20.1 0.0 0.0
1991[12] 87.5 51,742 4.2 37.5 3.3 7.2 9.5 7.0 23.7 0.0 7.0
1994[13] 88.0 52,738 6.4 44.4 4.9 6.3 8.3 3.8 24.3 0.0 1.1
1998[14] 82.8 50,206 12.7 36.4 4.9 4.1 4.7 12.0 23.2 0.0 0.0
2002[15] 82.0 51,272 7.9 39.9 4.8 5.7 14.2 8.6 15.2 1.4 0.0
2006[16] 83.6 53,554 6.0 36.8 5.5 7.5 7.7 6.5 25.2 2.3 0.0
2010[17] 86.1 57,709 5.5 32.9 8.0 5.5 7.5 5.3 29.9 4.2 0.0
2014[18] 87.7 61,111 5.5 34.7 7.8 5.7 5.3 4.5 23.3 9.6 0.0
2018[19] 89.0 63,334 7.9 31.7 4.8 8.5 5.7 6.4 19.5 14.1 0.0

Blocs

This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party. "Elected" is the total number of percentage points from the municipality that went to parties who were elected to the Riksdag.

Year Turnout Votes Left Right SD Other Elected
1973 92.0 47,969 49.2 49.4 0.0 1.4 98.6
1976 92.6 50,261 45.6 53.5 0.0 0.9 99.1
1979 91.6 51,435 48.3 50.3 0.0 1.4 98.6
1982 92.2 52,341 51.4 45.8 0.0 2.8 97.2
1985 90.5 52,538 50.0 48.1 0.0 1.9 98.1
1988 85.8 50,120 54.8 43.1 0.0 2.1 97.9
1991 87.5 51,742 41.7 47.4 0.0 11.9 96.1
1994 88.0 52,738 55.7 42.7 0.0 1.6 98.4
1998 82.8 50,206 54.0 44.0 0.0 2.0 98.0
2002 82.0 51,272 52.6 43.7 0.0 3.7 96.3
2006 83.6 53,554 48.3 46.9 0.0 4.8 95.2
2010 86.1 57,709 46.4 48.2 4.2 1.2 98.8
2014 87.7 61,111 48.0 38.8 9.6 3.6 96.4
2018 89.0 63,334 44.5 40.1 14.1 1.5 98.5

Notable natives

Sites of interest

Karlstad municipal library, and facilities for the municipal government.

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Sweden

Twin towns – sister cities

The municipality is twinned with:[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 1 January 2014. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Folkmängd och befolkningsförändringar - Kvartal 4, 2023" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Karlstad röstar som Sverige | Forskning & Framsteg | Populärvetenskapligt magasin". Fof.se. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. ^ "Som Ljungby röstar – röstar inte Sverige – Statistiska centralbyrån". Scb.se. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "Valresultat 2022 för Karlstad i riksdagsvalet" (in Swedish). SVT. 11 September 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1973 (page 166)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1976 (page 161)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1979 (page 185)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1982 (page 186)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  10. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1985 (page 187)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1988 (page 167)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1991 (page 29)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1994 (page 43)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  14. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1998 (page 40)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  15. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Karlstads kommun 2002" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Karlstads kommun 2006" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Karlstads kommun 2010" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Karlstads kommun 2014" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Karlstads kommun 2018" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  20. ^ "Karlstads kommun samarbetar med kommuner i andra länder". karlstad.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 September 2019.

External links

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