Since the 2022 election, the Green Party’s group leader Annika Hirvonen has spent just over seven hours in the Riksdag’s rostrum. Significantly more than all other members, and 1.5 hours more than the second on the list.
– It was a bit of fun, then you have done your job. I think it is extremely important to participate in the political debate, says Annika Hirvonen.
Do you see any downsides to topping the list?
– There is sure to be someone who will find something you said at some point that was perhaps not the most brilliant, and that’s the way it is, she says.
Equally between the sexes
SVT has compiled data from the Riksdag on the members’ total speaking time in the chamber since the election in 2022. One of the trends is that women are now taking up more and more space in the speaker’s chair.
When SVT investigated the speaking time in 2019, women occupied 38 percent of the speaking time, despite the fact that they made up 46 percent of the members.
The percentage of women has not increased since then, but their speaking time has. Now the women occupy 47 percent of the total speaking time, which means that men and women talk about the same amount in relation to the size of the groups.
Quietest member: “Have traveled around”
At the same time, the individual differences are large. At the bottom of the list is the liberal Gulan Avci, who spoke for just over a minute.
“During 2023, I have traveled around Sweden in my new role as party secretary, and therefore have not had the opportunity to stand in the lectern as often as I would have liked. My hope is that there will be significantly more time in the chamber next year,” she writes in a text message to SVT.
At least moderate Lars Püss has spoken. He believes that it is because his party has many members in each committee.
“Of course I’m not happy with ending up so far down the list, this has to change. But speaking time is far from everything, most of our work takes place in the meeting with other people, not in the pulpit,” he writes in a comment.
Annika Hirvonen (MP) agrees that there are many ways to do a good job in the Riksdag.
– Some write excellent proposals, some meet a lot of citizens, she says.