How to Vote in Swedish Elections From Spain

A Swedish citizen living in Spain keeps the vote in Riksdag and European Parliament elections, on one condition: at some point in your life you were registered as resident in Sweden. The right runs automatically for ten years from the date you emigrated. After that you re-register for a further ten years, and each period has to be renewed in turn.

The ten-year clock is where people on the Costa slip. Valmyndigheten wrote to about 82,000 Swedes abroad this spring who had dropped off the roll before the 13 September 2026 election.

Last verified: 28 September 2026.

The ten-year rule

You are an utlandssvensk — Swede living abroad: a Swedish citizen who has emigrated and is no longer folkbokförd — registered as resident in Sweden. Three things give the Riksdag vote: citizenship, age 18 by election day, and having been folkbokförd in Sweden at some time. Someone born abroad who has never been registered as resident in Sweden cannot vote, and a coordination number does not count.

How long you stay on the röstlängd — electoral roll works like this:

• When you emigrate, Skatteverket records the date as a registration that lasts ten years. A change of address filed from abroad counts as a fresh registration date for a further ten.
• Fewer than ten years since that date, counted from election day: you are on the roll automatically. More than ten: you are off it unless you re-register.
• Voting while your period is still running counts in that election and nothing more. Only the Skatteverket form starts a new period while you are still on the roll.
• Once you have dropped off, a vote does double as a re-registration, provided it reaches Sweden by the day before election day (12 September in 2026). A vote arriving later restarts your ten years but is not counted.

Which elections are open to you from Spain

Two of Sweden’s four general elections: the Riksdag election, every four years on the second Sunday in September, and Sweden’s election to the European Parliament, every five years and next due in 2029. Regional and municipal elections are closed; for those you have to be folkbokförd in Sweden.

The European election carries an EU-wide rule: you may vote for Swedish candidates through Sweden or for Spanish candidates through Spain, and Your Europe, the EU’s guidance site, puts it in one line: you can only vote once in the European elections.

How to register, and the one form that does it

The form is Skatteverket’s Ny adress/röstlängd för utvandrad, Anmälan — New address/electoral roll for emigrant, Notification, number SKV 7842. Skatteverket describes it as the form an emigrant uses to report a new address abroad or to ask to stay on the electoral roll after a ten-year period. It is a PDF, fillable on screen, then printed and posted to the address printed on it; there is no online submission. If post from where you live is not workable, Skatteverket accepts a scan or photo through its online contact form.

Valmyndigheten sends the utlandsröstkort — overseas voting card and the postal voting kit to the address Skatteverket holds for you. For 2026 the cards went out between 7 and 25 July. No card in July of an election year means your address or your registration has lapsed. Valmyndigheten’s helpline from abroad is +46 771 270 999.

How to vote from Spain: by post or at a consulate

The Elections Act (Vallag 2005:837) sets two windows. A brevröst — postal vote may be prepared from the 45th day before election day, and Swedish embassies and consulates may take votes from the 24th day before. In 2026 that meant postal voting from 30 July and consular voting from 20 August, with every vote needing to reach Sweden by 12 September, the day before polling.

By post: prepare the vote with two witnesses present, seal it in the kit’s envelopes and post it from abroad; a postal vote posted inside Sweden is invalid. The voting card is not required. If the kit never arrived, Valmyndigheten and the embassy can send materials and a duplicate card by email.

At a consulate: turn up with identification at a post appointed to take votes. In 2026 Valmyndigheten opened 289 posts worldwide, and three of the ten busiest were in Spain: Torrevieja with 2,416 votes, Málaga with 1,118 and Barcelona with 1,020. The list is set per election, so the 2029 posts will appear on val.se nearer the time.

The next dates that matter

• 13 September 2026: the Riksdag election, just held; 91,789 votes came from abroad, 56,132 at embassies and consulates and 35,657 by post.
• 2029: Sweden’s European Parliament election. The Swedish date is not yet set; Valmyndigheten says it will fall between April and June.
• 8 September 2030: the next ordinary Riksdag election. The Act fixes election day as the second Sunday in September, which in 2030 is 8 September. By the same Act, postal voting would open on the 45th day before, 25 July 2030, and consular voting on the 24th day before, 15 August 2030.
• Your own deadline: if ten years will have passed since your emigration date or last registration by the 2029 election day, send SKV 7842 before then. The form has no cut-off; the kit just goes to nobody.

What this does not cover

Regional and municipal elections in Sweden, and Sami parliament elections, which run on a separate roll. Swedes working or studying in Spain who remain folkbokförd in Sweden, who follow the rules for residents. Voting from Sweden gives you nothing in Spain’s regional or national elections; what you can vote on here as an EU citizen is in the Spain guides below. Which consular posts in Spain will take votes in 2029 is not yet known.

The five-minute version

• Riksdag and European Parliament elections only, and only if you were once registered as resident in Sweden.
• You stay on the roll for ten years from your emigration date, counted to election day. Voting does not extend it; Skatteverket form SKV 7842, printed and posted, does.
• Once dropped off, a vote that reaches Sweden by the day before election day re-registers you and counts.
• Vote by post from the 45th day before election day, two witnesses, posted from abroad, or at an appointed consulate from the 24th day before.
• Next: European Parliament election in 2029, date unset; Riksdag on 8 September 2030.

Related guides

• Can You Still Vote in Your Home Country While Living in Spain?
• How to Register to Vote in Spanish Municipal Elections as a Foreign Resident
• Can Foreigners Vote in Elections in Spain?
• Spain Election Calendar for Foreign Residents
• How to Vote in Finnish Elections From Spain

General information, not legal advice, current as of 28 September 2026. Primary sources: Valmyndigheten (val.se), Skatteverket, the Swedish Elections Act on riksdagen.se, and Your Europe (europa.eu).