[jakobnissen]

That's up to the voters, ultimately. You can choose to vote for independent MPs, right? Or MPs who promise not to always tow the party line? I suppose if people choose to vote based on parties, of course you get party focused politics.

[Epa095]

Traditionally what a 'independent MP' would do is create a new party. Usually it requires a certain number of signatures, not from people supporting them, just supporting their right to become a party. Then they need to have candidates for the ridings they want to be in.

One example is the Norwegian party 'Patient Focus' which

  was formed in April 2021, as a support movement for an expansion of the hospital in the town of Alta in Alta Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. In the 2021 parliamentary election, it won one of Finnmark's five seats in the Storting (Parlament). 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Focus_(Norway)

[bjornsing]

No you can’t really vote for an independent MP in the Swedish voting system. They would have to register a party, it’s very hard to win a seat, and there is no guarantee that they will not win two or more seats – thus perpetuating the collectivism.

[0xDEAFBEAD]

At least you don't have the spoiler problem like 3rd parties in the US have though, right?

Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat? In the US, for a 3rd party to win, something like 50% of the relevant electorate has to coordinate their vote to switch to the 3rd party. It sounds like in Scandinavia, the fraction of the electorate which needs to coordinate is just 1 / num_seats, which is way smaller.

If I were a Swede, I would be tempted to troll everyone by setting up an "independents party". The seats for that party are allocated based on a separate vote, open to the public. Candidates of the "independents party" have absolutely no obligation to vote together, and act as free agents once they get elected. Sort of like a democracy-within-a-democracy.

[viraptor]

You're describing direct democracy parties and they exist in other places in non-trolly way. For example the Australian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Direct_Democracy

[wqaatwt]

It might be hard to convince people to vote for a party made up of random people who might have very contradictory views.

[bjornsing]

> Why is it hard for a new party to win a seat?

There are thresholds to avoid too many small parties / independents getting elected. You need to win 4% of the vote nationally or 12% regionally to get a single seat, and if you do then you typically get more than one. Congrats, you’re now a collectivist too.

> If I were a Swede…

I’ve considered it. :)

[lurk2]

> You can choose to vote for independent MPs, right?

Not if they can’t afford to run a campaign.

[barry-cotter]

toe the line, as in keep your toes behind the line at the start of the race, not tow the line.