Foreign-background politicians report more abuse but many part-time roles lack protection

Politicians with foreign backgrounds reported slightly more threats, harassment, violence, vandalism or theft in 2024. Sweden's statutory safety duty still leaves most leisure politicians outside its reach.

Since 1 July 2025, the Municipal Act has required municipalities and regions to prevent ill health or accidents caused by threats and violence against elected representatives who serve full-time or a significant share of full-time. The law is modelled on employers' work-environment duties; it did not create a new criminal offence.

Brå's 2025 safety survey found that 26.9% of politicians with foreign backgrounds reported threats, harassment, violence, vandalism or theft during 2024, compared with 25.3% of politicians with Swedish backgrounds.

The 1.6-point difference is small. Brå said the groups' exposure was approximately equal, and the survey cannot show that background caused any incident. Role, visibility and workload may help explain the result.

The sharper divide is by workload. Brå recorded exposure of 57.2% among full-time politicians, 32.4% among part-time politicians and 16.8% among leisure politicians. The proposition said a natural threshold for legal coverage was at least 40% of full-time work, although each municipality or region sets the exact boundary.

That leaves a large group carrying democratic risk without the same statutory duty of protection. The proposition said 96% of municipal and 93% of regional representatives were leisure politicians. Municipalities can still support them voluntarily, but the law does not require the same prevention measures for those outside the workload threshold.

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