Election problems trigger new inquiry into ballot paper system

Long queues and incidents involving stolen ballot papers were recurring problems during Sweden’s 2026 election, prompting a new inquiry into the ballot paper system, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.

The Ballot Paper Committee has also been asked to examine what a transition to joint or neutral ballot papers would entail.

The Election Authority said 744 million ballot papers were printed for the election. Several incident reports described ballot papers being stolen or moved, while voters faced long queues when collecting papers before voting.

In an interim report, the committee said the number of ballot papers could be more than halved by removing papers that contain only a party name and symbol. The remaining options would be a ballot paper listing candidate names and a completely blank ballot paper.

The committee will now investigate the advantages and disadvantages of two main alternatives. One would use joint ballot papers, on which voters mark their preferred choice. The other would use neutral ballot papers, on which voters write in a candidate number themselves.

Sweden’s parliamentary parties are more positive towards joint ballot papers than neutral ones. The full inquiry is due to be completed in August next year.