Sámi Parliament of Sweden

Sámi Parliament in Sweden

*Sámediggi* (Northern Sami)
*Sametinget* (Swedish)
Sámi Parliament in Sweden ; Sámediggi (Northern Sami); Sametinget (Swedish)
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	1 January 1993
Preceded by	Swedish Sámi Council
Leadership
Speaker	Daniel Holst, Hunting and Fishing Sámi ; since 2021
Structure
Seats	31
Political groups	Hunting and Fishing Sámi (12); Sámi Land Party (6); The Morning Star (5); Forest Sámi (3); Swedish Sámi National Party (2); The Sámi (2); Our Way (1);
Elections
Last election	2021
Next election	2025
Meeting place
	Sámi Parliament of Sweden Building; Kiruna, Sweden
Website
	www.sametinget.se

The Sámi Parliament of Sweden (Swedish: Sametinget, Northern Sami: Sámediggi, Lule Sami: Sámedigge, Southern Sami: Saemiedigkie) is the representative body for people of Sámi heritage in Sweden based in Kiruna. It acts as an institution of cultural autonomy for the indigenous Sámi people.

History

The Sami Parliament Act, Sametingslag (1992:1433), established the Swedish Sami Parliament as of 1 January 1993. By law, the first official elections were held on 16 May 1993. Its first session was opened by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, on 26 August 1993 in Kiruna. It has 31 representatives, who are elected every four years by general vote. The current chairperson of the Sámi Parliament is Paulus Kuoljak, since 2017. The chairperson is formally assigned by the Swedish Government upon the proposal of the Sami Parliament.

The 2021 Sámediggi Election was held on 16 May 2021, with 9,220 people registered as voters, mostly living in Norrbotten or Västerbotten.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Responsibilities

Sweden has taken this active part for two reasons:

to recognise the Sámi minority as an indigenous people to distinguish it from other minorities;
to raise the Sámi minority influence which comes into conflict with the European majority democracy system, i.e., the group with the most votes wins.

Voting system

Sámi Parliament is democratically elected and acts as an autonomous authority. Sámi inhabitants have a vote, in addition to the regular elections in Sweden, to elect representatives to the Sámi Parliament if:^{[citation needed]}

they identify as culturally or ethnically Sámi, and either
- they speak a Sámi language, or
- they have had or have a parent, or grandparent, that speaks or spoke a Sámi language