In Sweden, British woman urges voters to learn more about immigrants’ lives
In Sweden, England-born Laura Brownrigg will vote in regional and local elections for the first time. In an interview with The Local Sweden, she said that the opportunity to take part in voting restored her sense of belonging to the community after she lost voting rights in France because of Brexit.
Brownrigg has worked in the IT sector for more than 20 years and moved to Sweden four years ago to be closer to her family. She said that her application for permanent residence had recently been approved.
The opportunity to vote
According to Brownrigg, after Brexit she could vote neither in European Parliament elections nor in local elections in France, where she had previously lived. She did not expect to have such an opportunity in Sweden, but received a notification from the Swedish Election Authority.
The interviewee noted that she has lived in the country for more than three years and can therefore take part in regional and local elections. She urged other foreigners who have the right to vote in Sweden to use it.
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The environment and immigrants’ lives
The most important political issue for Brownrigg is environmental protection. She said that she votes for the Green Party because, in her view, traditional parties do not take environmental issues seriously enough.
Brownrigg said that she had familiarized herself with the parties’ positions on the election authority’s website and with the help of the valkompass online tool, using machine translation from Swedish. In her view, the election campaign in Sweden is less intrusive than in other countries where she has lived, so voters should seek information independently.
She also believes that some people born in Sweden may not know about some of the problems immigrants face. As examples, Brownrigg mentioned deportations of teenagers and “track changes,” and said that her Swedish friends had previously not been aware of such issues.
