Umeå University's logo

This study aims to investigate the policy focus of Swedish parties in the two most recent European Parliament elections through a quantitative content analysis of the parties' election manifestos. The method for this analysis has been inspired by the well-known Comparative Manifesto Project. The information made available through the method has been analyzed within the framework of relevant theories in the field, namely Second-order Election theory and Issue Ownership theory, to examine whether this policy focus aligns with expected outcomes. Descriptive statistics show significant changes between the elections; for example, the length of the election manifestos has more than doubled on average. Theoretically, the statistical results can be said to align with expected outcomes. Each party places a significant emphasis on the issues in which they already have established credibility, which is the expected outcome according to Issue Ownership research. However, one party stands out in this regard: the Liberals. This is likely due to a combination of the fact that education issues are largely not decided within the European Parliament, while the Liberals have ambitious goals to be the most pro-EU party. This combination potentially affects the Liberals' results in the European Parliament elections negatively, given Second-order Election theories that argue the connection to the national arena is crucial for achieving good election results. The issue of the environment and climate stands out in that all parties, except the Sweden Democrats, place a significant emphasis on it, despite many parties not having high credibility in this area. This contradicts both Issue Ownership theory and Second-order Election theory. Potentially, the cross-border nature of the environment and climate issue is starting to change what we think we know about the connection between national and the European election.