In a series of articles, The Local interviews foreigners voting in the Swedish election for the first time. Here's our last interview with Vivien Leung from Australia – and here's our guide to voting in Sweden.
Could you start by telling me a little bit about yourself?
I've been working in the IT sector for over 20 years. I manage the outbound communications to the industry analysts.
I was born and raised in England. I'm a foreign language graduate – French and Italian – and was always from quite an early age really keen to work in, shall we say, Europe. So I always saw myself having a career outside the UK and working in other countries.
I've lived and worked in various European countries more or less since I graduated in the mid-late-90s. I'm very pro-Europe. I was living in France at the time of Brexit. I wouldn't say it broke my heart, but almost. I felt Brexit was such a bad move for the UK.
What brought me to Sweden was more personal, because I have family here, and after the pandemic I felt that I needed to get closer to my family. I came here four years ago and just got notification that I've got my permanent residency approved.
How does it feel to be voting for the first time in Sweden's local and regional elections?
Fantastic!
I'm not really the kind of person who's going to go deep into politics. I've actually been out of politics for a few years because after Brexit I couldn't even vote in the European parliamentary elections and I couldn't vote in the French local elections. I suddenly felt like an outsider in a country where I'd been living for years.
I didn't think I would be able to vote in the Swedish elections because of Brexit, but then I got the letter from the Swedish Election Authority in my Kivra account and I was like "oh wow, I can vote – this is really exciting". I had been forced out of politics because of Brexit, and now Sweden has welcomed me saying "you've been here for over three years, so you're welcome to vote in the local and regional elections". That wasn't the case in France.
I feel like I'm now part of the community again. I have to say, having been forced out of politics really makes you appreciate getting back in. In France, I really felt disempowered. So having felt what it's like not to have a voice and be able to vote, and now being given it back, it just feels so empowering, and I think people should not take it for granted.
I look at what's happening in the US with some of the very extremist groups over there and some of these so-called Christian far-right groups who are now arguing that women should not be voting. I was even more horrified to see that there are some women behind this as well, and I'm thinking to myself, everybody has to go out and vote. You cannot take this for granted.
What issues matter the most to you?
I think the most important thing for everybody is the way we treat our planet. So the environment for me is really important, because we only have one planet. I know there are some billionaires who think they might try and develop life on another planet. I think that's ridiculous.
I went to school in the 80s, early 90s, and we were taught that kind of stuff then, in geography class and so on. And then as I got older and started to look at what was happening, I was puzzled. We know all this. Why aren't we doing anything about it?
I feel that the traditional mainstream parties, whether it's left or right, don't seem to take it all that seriously. So I vote for the Green Party, because I think that as an ideology, it is essential. This is the planet that we're living on. We shouldn't be pushing these questions out into the future.
How easy have you found it to inform yourself about Swedish politics and what the parties stand for?
Quite easy, actually. I've looked at the Election Authority's website. I tried to read it in Swedish, but I ended up using Google Translate. Nobody's got any excuse, you know. Even if you don't speak Swedish, you can use Google Translate, and you can get a good understanding.
I've also used the valkompass tool, which was really good. When I answered the questions I didn't look at what the other parties were saying, I just answered according to how I felt, and I saw the alignment [with the Green Party] was there as well, which is good.
I think in Sweden the resources available are there, and of course The Local has been covering it, so kudos to you and the team for doing that.
I think it's really a case of people just taking a little bit of time. You know, the valkompass thing took, I think, 15 minutes for me to complete. You can just spend half an hour and you already get a pretty good overview of each of the parties and what they stand for. You don't have to dedicate hours to it. I certainly haven't.
What are your thoughts on the Swedish election campaign in general?
Having lived in a few other countries, it's rather different. Quite low key actually. In other countries it can be so much in your face and you just get fed up with it, and maybe that turns people off. But it does put the responsibility on the voter to go and look at each party for themselves because it's not in your face and it's not out there.
The municipality that I live in held a series of presentations from each of the major parties. So all of them came: Ebba Busch, Ulf Kristersson, Jimmie Åkesson, they all came. I wanted to go and listen, but I decided not to bother because my Swedish isn't good enough, but I just found it so good that the municipality invited them and they actually came.
I think about the UK where I grew up, you would never see that. And my municipality is not that big, it's maybe 15,000-20,000 inhabitants. So I'm quite impressed with the way the politicians here in Sweden actually do want to go out and meet with people around the country. You get the opportunity to hear directly from them, and not through some media like the television or a newspaper.
What do you want native Swedes to know about life as an immigrant in Sweden?
I would want them to know that there are lots of things happening which they may not be fully aware of. Unfortunately, the mainstream media might not be covering it either.
I'm a busy person and work long hours; I understand that people don't have the time to do the digging for themselves, but I would want them to know that there's another story which they're often not hearing.
I think it's important that they realise that maybe Sweden is not the 100 percent beautiful country that they might think it is, because there are these things happening – like the teen deportations or track changes or so forth – and often they're completely ignorant.
I've had conversations with Swedish friends and I've said to them "do you realise that this is happening" and they have no idea. And when I tell them they're horrified. I believe that if people were to know these things, they might have a different opinion about some of these political parties.
What do you want to say to foreigners voting in Sweden for the first time?
Absolutely do it. Maybe some are feeling that "I'm in this new country and it doesn't feel like my country because I'm a foreigner here", and I would argue, well, it is your country, because you have chosen to live here, so you should be voting if you're given the chance.
Having had that taken away from me, I would say absolutely you should exercise that right, and that goes for everybody, not just immigrant voters, but for everybody.