Östersund Municipality Explained

Östersund Municipality
Native Name:Östersunds kommun
Native Name Lang:sv
Settlement Type:Municipality
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Sweden
Subdivision Type1:County
Subdivision Name1:Jämtland County
Seat Type:Seat
Seat:Östersund
Unit Pref:Metric
Area Note:Area as of .
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:CET
Utc Offset1:+1
Timezone1 Dst:CEST
Utc Offset1 Dst:+2
Blank Name Sec1:Province
Blank Info Sec1:Jämtland
Blank1 Name Sec1:Municipal code
Blank1 Info Sec1:2380
Iso Code:SE
Website:www.ostersund.se

Östersund Municipality is a municipality in Jämtland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Östersund, which is also the county seat of Jämtland County.

The present municipality was formed in 1971 by the amalgamation of the City of Östersund with five surrounding rural municipalities.

Localities

There are ten localities (or urban areas) in Östersund Municipality:[1]

Locality Population
1 Östersund (part of) 43,359
2 3,916
3 1,051
4 441
5 396
6 351
7 239
8 238
9 218
10 209

The municipal seat in bold

Politics and governance

Swedish municipalities are responsible for government-mandated duties, and elections for the municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) are held every four years, parallel to the general elections.

Political history

Östersund gained a city council (stadsfullmäktige) in 1863, known as Östersunds stad, and each member was elected through a single-winner voting system. Sweden was democratized in the end of the 1910s and a more parliamentarian election system was introduced. Östersund continued to be governed by the burghers, unlike Sweden nationally. The dominating parties were the conservatives, the freeminded and the social democrats. The latter did become the single largest party in 1938 but due to a strong centre-right majority it remained in opposition. The only other party present in Östersund was the communists, though they had little support in the city, having entered the city council in 1922 and lost representation completely in 1930. The conservatives was by far the largest party and had a majority of its own with 18 seats in 1922. After the municipal elections of 1950 the situation had changed. The conservatives was the smallest party with 10 seats, the liberals (now represented by the Liberal People's party) had 11 and the social democrats 19. This was in contrast to the turnout on a national level, where the social democrats had been the dominant party for over a decade gaining e.g. 46 percent of the votes in the general elections of 1948. In 1952 a social democrat was appointed chairman of Östersund's governing body, due to the lack of political blocs and the strive for mutual agreements.

A majority for the social democrats was achieved first in 1962. The political scene was shortly afterwards altered, in 1966, when the agrian and rural Centre Party (previously known as Peasant's League) got into the city council, after broadening its scope to include non-farmers, alongside the Christian Democrats (though not present on the national political scene) and the communists returning after a 40-year period of absence. The burghers was thus back in power. Following the rise of Swedish welfare the small municipalities could not cope with their assigned duties. As a result, large municipality blocks were introduced and Östersunds stad was heavily enlarged and several districts kilometres away from the city were included in the new Östersund Municipality.

The first election for the new municipality was held in 1970 and it was a large success for the Centre Party, both locally in Östersund and nationally due to its opposition towards centralisation. Having entered in 1966 with 4 seats it now possessed one fourth of the total number of seats (which was mainly due to support from the city, not the newly included rural areas). Block politics formation became prominent and the Centre Party became the leading party for the centre-right block, whilst the Social Democrats came to dominate the left block. The Social Democrats regained power in 1980 and has since governed Östersund Municipality until present day (excluding a brief period in the 1990s) supported by the communists (after 1991 known as the Left Party) and occasionally the Green Party. The Green Party has been in the municipal council since 1982.

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Östersund Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.[2]

Residents include everyone registered as living in the district, regardless of age or citizenship status. Valid voters indicate Swedish citizens above the age of 18 who therefore can vote in general elections. Left vote and right vote indicate the result between the two major blocs in said district in the 2022 general election. Employment indicates the share of people between the ages of 20 and 64 who are working taxpayers. Foreign background is defined as residents either born abroad or with two parents born outside of Sweden. Median income is the received monthly income through either employment, capital gains or social grants for the median adult above 20, also including pensioners in Swedish kronor. The section about college graduates indicates any degree accumulated after high school.

In total there were 49,635 Swedish citizens of voting age resident in the municipality.[2] 58.5% voted for the left coalition and 40.2% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location
data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number"
Brittsbo-Lugnviksstrand1,5311,04959.539.69293730,60057
Brunflo Storviken2,1681,66854.145.28294625,23032
Brunflo Södergård1,4761,11655.642.784891124,79035
Brunflo Änge1,3831,09456.942.48592822,23735
Centrala Lit1,16785256.342.978861421,52529
Eriksberg-Solliden1,7501,47661.737.47992825,70864
Erikslund-Blomängen1,6201,24062.436.786901027,68356
Frösödal1,4741,18062.936.085901026,78257
Fåker-Tandsbyn1,9761,55057.141.88594624,16935
Hornsberg Nedre1,12095661.036.379901022,82147
Hornsberg Övre1,08288759.539.580871325,26152
Häggenås1,16290950.946.68695524,09833
Karlslund1,3061,09259.739.48592827,63559
Körfältet1,5221,09260.837.573712921,30228
Lit-Landsbygd2,0721,61550.347.58896427,26539
Lugnviks C1,5711,31261.037.880871322,64235
Marieby1,6681,20451.347.89195530,46757
Marielund-Odenskog1,18283062.536.567742620,61539
Nedre Blomängen1,13398659.139.48392824,16047
Norr1,34594857.541.379851527,92360
N Frösön-Lövsta2,4191,73460.638.582901028,84563
Norra Odenslund1,5731,28556.941.378802023,19147
Odensala Nedre2,1661,64656.942.29095529,60956
Odensala Tavelbäcken1,7731,39659.539.385891124,83348
Odensala Övre1,6941,28363.536.18894628,88756
Orrviken1,4331,05254.943.79095527,61248
Sjukhusområdet1,4471,24264.035.376841624,63252
Storsjöstrand-Odensvik1,9871,56756.842.284891125,55247
Söder1,3931,16158.839.380851523,75144
Södra Odenslund1,4091,22662.236.68193726,29752
S Valla-Mjäle1,8511,39061.237.981881226,96956
Torvalla By-Ope1,22891554.144.78491928,42847
Torvalla C1,6521,00963.832.265534717,93422
Torvalla Fjällmon2,2421,68165.832.781881225,33942
Torvalla Skogsmon1,31089556.141.678802024,49532
Torvalla Ängsmon1,48696352.645.578821823,65526
Universitetet1,5971,31059.437.871792121,35851
Västra Frösön1,5411,15562.237.78894630,00666
Östberg1,3071,08460.538.681901025,64750
Östersund nedre C1,6991,47856.242.472821822,10846
Östersund övre C1,3321,10751.647.080802024,52942
Source: SVT

See also

References

  1. http://www.scb.se/statistik/MI/MI0810/2005A01A/Tatorternami0810tab1en.xls Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  2. Web site: Valresultat 2022 för Östersund i riksdagsvalet. SVT. sv. 11 September 2022. 26 December 2023.

External links