Scientist Pedro Veliça is one of thousands of foreign-born voters ready to for the first time cast their ballot in Sweden’s national election. He tells The Local about the issues that matter to him, and what he wants native Swedish voters to know about immigrant life.
In a new series of articles, The Local interviews foreigners voting in the Swedish election for the first time. Here’s our guide to voting in Sweden.
Could you start by telling me a little bit about yourself?
I’m originally from Portugal, which I left about 21 years ago. I went to the UK first to do my PhD, and then I worked there as an academic researcher for about eight years. Then I moved to Sweden in 2015 to be a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute, and I’ve been here since.
So I came initially just as a “let’s try out Sweden and see how it goes” and then ended up staying. We had children here, bought an apartment and in 2022, we moved from Stockholm to Gothenburg. I’m a lead scientist working in cell and gene therapies at the moment.
When did you get your citizenship?
We applied in December 2024. It was a very quick process because we went back to Portugal for Christmas and when we came back in January it had been accepted. The trigger for us was that we knew the new rules were coming and thought we had too much skin in the game – you know, we’ve got property, the children who were born here, and they speak Swedish. But it was super fast. I hear the stories you report and think we were lucky.
And how does it feel to be voting for parliament for the first time?
Very exciting and I’m very happy about it. I feel like after 11 years of taxation, it’s good to finally have some representation. We have voted in the local elections before, which are also very important, but it’s very exciting to finally be part of this aspect of democracy.
What issues matter the most to you?
Economic issues. I benefitted a lot from the social state in my home country – you know, born in a public hospital, always been to public schools, so all the opportunities I got were from the social state. At this particular moment, I also think it is very important to try to tackle wealth inequality. It feels like economic inequality is increasing after Covid and the successive economic crises, so it’s important to me that we’re not just passive about it.
Another important topic is climate change. I think Sweden has been doing a great job, but in recent years it’s fallen down the agenda, and I feel like it should be bumped back up.
I also think a stronger opposition to what’s happened in Gaza and the West Bank is very important. I think Israel should be treated the same way that we treat Russia, and I don’t feel like most parties in Sweden have been doing that.
Also, generally, I’m not very comfortable being an immigrant with the normalisation of this kind of racism and xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment. I think my natural political home would have been the Social Democrats, but I feel slightly threatened, and my reaction to that was to move to a party that I feel would defend my interests a bit more, and I see that more from the Left Party.
Are there any other reasons why you’re considering the Left Party?
I’m at that age when I’m OK that a party is not perfect in every aspect. I remember in Portugal the first three times I voted, I voted blank. But now I’m more of a compromise person. OK, I don’t agree with everything, but if I look through my main issues, the Left Party is the one that ticks most boxes. Maybe also the Green Party. It could be that on the day, I flip, but it’s going to be one of the two, probably.
How easy have you found it to inform yourself about Swedish politics and what the various parties stand for?
Well, a lot of it is your outlet! It’s a big source of information and I’m very thankful. I’m a subscriber and listen to the podcast and read the news on The Local, so that’s great. I also try to read the news in Swedish and try to see what the parties stand for.
I also try to see, and I do this in every election, where the parties sit in bigger political contexts: where do they sit in the European Parliament and what do these groups usually do? The candidates – the face of the parties – change all the time, but what the parties are likely to do is very stable, I feel. All Social Democrat-aligned parties in Europe are sort of similar at the moment, and all the Moderates-like parties are very similar. So I try to see what happens at the European level, and then look at more Sweden-specific elements in the local news.
What are your thoughts on the Swedish election or election campaign in general?
In Portugal people just shout at each other in debates, and it’s very aggressive. Here, it feels very calm, and although you have the posters and the debates are of course lively, people are still respectful.
I like that the political campaigning here isn’t too invasive. I consider myself politically informed, so the campaign isn’t what would sway me one way or the other, so I’m quite happy with it. I think it’s the right amount of propaganda, if you will, on the street.
What do you wish native Swedish voters knew about immigrant life in Sweden?
We’re about 30 people at our company and about 30 percent of us were not born in Sweden. Often at lunch the immigration minority tries to explain what life is like, and we all have different realities. I’m an EU migrant, so my life is easy in comparison, and then you have non-EU migrants from European countries and non-EU migrants from non-European countries – and the realities are very different. Native Swedes are just not aware of the amount of paperwork you need to do and the interactions with the Migration Agency.
One issue that we try to talk about is that some people are maybe thinking of voting for a centre-right party, for very valid reasons. You know, they want lower taxes or improve how businesses work. We try to relay to them that “that’s great, but if you vote for this party, you’re very likely going to get a far-right party, and that’s going to make our lives – you know, real people that you know – more difficult, because everything they work for is to make the immigrant experience more difficult”. And even when people say “we’re not targeting you specifically because you are the good immigrant”, you still end up getting targeted.
Life is always made difficult if you’re not a citizen, and I feel a lot of times people are surprised about that. So it’s great that you guys have pushed into the mainstream news sometimes. For example the teen deportation story, which most people weren’t aware of.
Is there anything you would like to say to foreigners voting for the first time in Sweden?
Just vote. Just go for it. I don’t care how you vote, but if you can vote, be part of democracy. I’m sure not everyone will align with the way I see the world. I think most immigrants will have the immigrant experience at heart, but I also know immigrants who are themselves xenophobic against other immigrants – so I would just have people think about the lot that they’ve had in life, and try to make sure other people have access to that as well.