Mid Sweden University

Political participation is a foundation within a democracy and a foundation that is needed for a democracy to function and establish itself in a country. A common measurement of political participation is participation in the various general elections that takes place in a country. Political participation in regard to participation in elections have been extensively studied in previous studies and those studies show that the participation varies between different terms of office. Causes of the variation in voter turnout are a well researched topic as well. The purpose of this study is to examine the variations in voter turnout between the municipalities in the latest municipal council election in Sweden. The two different starting points that are examined in relation to voting participation in the municipal council elections are based on the municipal level, which are democracy development and municipal types. The results presented in this study indicate that there is some connection between the two starting points, democratic development and the municipality type, regarding the variation found between the municipal elections. The result is to a certain extent in line with the theoretical assumption that is illustrated and emphasized in this study.