The main purpose of this study is to examine political competition on the local level inSweden and to empirically test two theories of political competition, namely whetherthe size of the unit affects the variation in political competition and whether socioeconomicstandards affect the variation in political competition. The findings supportthe suggested causal mechanism between socioeconomic standards and competition.Accordingly, units with higher socioeconomic standards have a higher level of politicalcompetition. Some empirical findings also support the suggested causal mechanismbetween the size of the units and the political competition. The findings show thatpopulation size is a robust determinant of competition and that a larger populationsize affects competition positively. The findings show also that area size is a relativelyrobust determinant of competition and that area size has a negative effect on competition.However the negative effect is contrary to the expectations.