Whale in Sweden (Val i Sverige)

Swedish lesson 101:

val = whale, election

In 3 days Sweden is holding their elections, and for the first time in a long while I actually registered so I could cast my vote for the parliaments.  I got my voting card in time, but so far, not a single little envelope has arrived so I can mail in my vote. This is unusual, in Sweden things like this usually work very smoothly.  Oh well... it seems that the party I would vote for won't be part of the ruling group anyway.

When I was in Sweden there were election advertisement everywhere.  You can't give money to parties for the elections, so they get money from the state instead so it should be more fair.  However, the posters they use can be less fair.  The conservative party, 'nya' Moderaterna, are busy recasting themselves as the 'worker's party' (nya arbetarpartiet).  Yeah right.  They are the worker's party as much as you can force an ostrich to swim.  They are just doing the same thing as the British conservatives, fooling the masses while making tax cuts for the rich...  And yes, their (and Sweden's current) leader has no hair.

Here is an election poster for your enjoyment... For more from the green party look here. I really like the simplicity of their posters, and I like the message too. They have railroads, gay rights, circuit boards, wind power, organic food and immigration, all in there...

Sweden has a 1-chamber system in the parliament, and currently a conservative-liberal alliance (4 parties) is in power.  The green party in partnership with the left party (=former communist party) and socialdemocrats want to take over, but people are not trusting the socialdemocrats much anymore.  40 years ago they were the largest party by far, but not so anymore.  The green party is doing fine, it is small but has a lot of influence.