The committee announced on Monday that the election, which was held in May this year, must be redone in its entirety since it has emerged that 93 outer envelopes from the polling station in Arjeplog had not been resealed by the polling officer.
Redoing the election only for voters in Arjeplog is not possible, according to Cecilia Persson, chief rapporteur at the Election Review Board.
One does not know which votes came from Arjeplog since the entire Sweden in the Sami Parliament election is combined into one single constituency, she says.
Decreases in principle
If one looks at elections to municipalities and regions over the years, voter turnout in principle decreases in a reelection, according to Cecilia Persson.
How it will be with this reelection I do not know. But if voter turnout is 80 percent in normal cases, it often goes down to 60-70 percent in a reelection, she says.
The parties have a responsibility to increase voter turnout and get their voters to vote, according to Cecilia Persson, but it also lies with the authorities to advertise the election.
Ultimately, it is a cost issue, she says.
Stricter requirements
In order for mistakes in the vote count at elections not to occur, the requirements for polling officers working in polling stations have been tightened in recent years, according to Cecilia Persson. Nowadays, they must undergo training before the work. In this case, with the unsealed envelopes, it did not help, however.
The human factor is present at every election, she says.
The Election Authority has now decided on a date for the reelection to the Sami Parliament, which will be on October 5, 2025.
The Sami Parliament election is an election that takes place every fourth year and where Swedish Sami people elect their representatives to the Sami Parliament, the parliament of the Sami people.
