Åsele Municipality (Swedish: Åsele kommun) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Åsele. It is located in the southernmost fringe of Lapland.

Åsele Municipality
Åsele kommun
Coat of arms of Åsele Municipality
Coordinates: 64°09′N 17°21′E / 64.150°N 17.350°E / 64.150; 17.350
CountrySweden
CountyVästerbotten County
SeatÅsele
Area
 • Total4,543.95 km2 (1,754.43 sq mi)
 • Land4,223.79 km2 (1,630.81 sq mi)
 • Water320.16 km2 (123.61 sq mi)
 Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population
 (31 December 2023)[2]
 • Total2,718
 • Density0.60/km2 (1.5/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeSE
ProvinceLapland
Municipal code2463
Websitewww.asele.se

History

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The first Swedish settlement in Åsele Municipality (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people) was in Gafsele south of Åsele. The settlers were Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia.

Fredrika is a parish in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea and Vilhelmina, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were proud of themselves and the town.

In 1974 the former market town (köping) Åsele (1959-1970) was amalgamated with Dorotea and Fredrika. In 1980 the Dorotea part was detached, forming a new Dorotea Municipality.

Geography

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Björnlandet National Park.

Geographically, the Ångerman River flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric power stations are built around it.

The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a wooden church, a small historical (open-air) museum, and a nine-hole golf course.

Localities

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There are two localities (or urban areas) in Åsele Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Åsele 1,920
2 Fredrika 254

The municipal seat in bold

Demographics

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This is a demographic table based on Åsele Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.[4]

In total there were 2,803 residents, including 2,126 Swedish citizens of voting age.[4] 54.9% voted for the left coalition and 43.8% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Elections

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Riksdag

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These are the results of the elections to the Riksdag for Åsele Municipality since the 1972 municipal reform. SCB did not publish the party's results for the Sweden Democrats between 1988 and 1998 because of the party's small size nationally.

Year Turnout Votes V S MP C L KD M SD ND
1973[5] 89.9 6,086 3.7 51.8 0.0 24.7 12.2 2.7 4.4 0.0 0.0
1976[6] 90.9 6,299 3.3 54.1 0.0 24.7 11.4 1.9 4.6 0.0 0.0
1979[7] 88.7 3,380 2.9 55.9 0.0 20.5 10.5 2.7 7.4 0.0 0.0
1982[8] 89.3 3,309 3.6 58.3 1.0 19.9 6.5 2.9 7.9 0.0 0.0
1985[9] 88.0 3,149 4.2 56.7 1.0 21.1 8.8 0.0 8.2 0.0 0.0
1988[10] 86.2 2,893 3.7 57.9 3.5 16.8 7.7 4.7 5.5 0.0 0.0
1991[11] 83.2 2,708 4.8 53.7 1.3 15.5 5.9 6.9 8.3 0.0 1.3
1994[12] 85.1 2,705 5.1 59.9 4.1 12.6 4.7 4.4 8.1 0.0 0.7
1998[13] 81.2 2,442 11.8 50.5 2.6 10.6 3.8 8.4 9.1 0.0 0.0
2002[14] 79.9 2,208 9.1 52.3 1.9 17.2 5.7 6.0 5.1 0.4 0.0
2006[15] 80.7 2,070 7.0 50.6 1.1 16.3 4.8 6.5 10.0 1.6 0.0
2010[16] 83.3 2,004 7.4 51.2 1.9 9.6 5.8 5.4 13.6 3.9 0.0
2014[17] 84.9 1,893 9.1 44.8 1.9 10.6 5.2 3.4 11.7 10.9 0.0

Blocs

This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party.

Year Turnout Votes Left Right SD Other Elected
1973 89.9 6,086 55.5 41.3 0.0 3.2 96.8
1976 90.9 6,299 57.4 40.7 0.0 1.9 98.1
1979 88.7 3,380 58.8 38.4 0.0 2.8 97.2
1982 89.3 3,309 61.9 34.3 0.0 4.8 95.2
1985 88.0 3,149 60.9 38.1 0.0 1.0 99.0
1988 86.2 2,893 65.1 30.0 0.0 4.9 95.1
1991 83.2 2,708 58.5 36.6 0.0 4.9 96.4
1994 85.1 2,705 69.1 29.8 0.0 1.1 98.9
1998 81.2 2,442 64.9 31.9 0.0 3.2 96.8
2002 79.9 2,208 63.3 34.0 0.0 2.7 97.3
2006 80.7 2,070 58.7 37.6 0.0 3.7 96.3
2010 83.3 2,004 60.5 34.4 3.9 1.2 98.8
2014 84.9 1,893 55.8 30.9 10.9 2.4 97.6

Other

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The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe's largest Thai Buddhist temple.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 2014-01-01. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  2. ^ "Folkmängd och befolkningsförändringar - Kvartal 4, 2023" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  4. ^ a b c "Valresultat 2022 för Åsele i riksdagsvalet" (in Swedish). SVT. 11 September 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1973 (page 168)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  6. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1976 (page 163)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1979 (page 187)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  8. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1982 (page 188)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1985 (page 189)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1988 (page 169)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1991 (page 31)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1994 (page 46)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Riksdagsvalet 1998 (page 43)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  14. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Åsele kommun 2002" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  15. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Åsele kommun 2006" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  16. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Åsele kommun 2010" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  17. ^ "Valresultat Riksdag Åsele kommun 2014" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  18. ^ Fact sheet on the official site
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