Grästorp Municipality (''Grästorps kommun'') is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

in western

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Its seat is located in the town of

Grästorp Grästorp is a locality and the seat of Grästorp Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 2,969 inhabitants in 2010. It is the only locality in Grästorp Municipality. Sports The following sports clubs are located in Grästorp: ...

. Grästorp Municipality is located right in the middle of Västra Götaland County, by the shores of

Lake Vänern A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

History

In the year 1900 the village

was detached from Tengene and made a market town (''

köping ''Köping'' was a Swedish denomination for a market town since the Middle Ages, derived from the Old Norse word ''kaupang''. The designation was officially abolished with the municipal reform of 1971, when Sweden was subdivided into the Munici ...

''). The local government reform of 1952 amalgamated it with twelve surrounding municipalities (among them Tengene). The 1971 reform made the term ''köping'' obsolete, thus forming Grästorps kommun without amendment of territory. The area has been inhabited at least since the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

as it contains several

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

s. The runestone at the church at Sal has an inscription that reads "''Torgård satte denna sten efter Toke, sin frände''", meaning "Torgård raised this stone for Toke, his kinsman".

Localities

The seat

(pop. 3,000) is the only built-up

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

with more than 200 inhabitants in this predominantly rural area.

Government and politics

In the 2010 elections the

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

Party of the Swedes Party of the Swedes ( sv, Svenskarnas parti, SvP) was a Neo-Nazi political party in Sweden. The party described itself as nationalist and sought to limit Swedish citizenship only to individuals who belong to the "Western genetic and cultural lega ...

got 102 votes or 2.8 per cent in the elections to the council, giving them one seat and making them the first

party to get any mandate in a Swedish political assembly since the 1940s. Distribution of the 31 seats in the municipal council after the 2010 election: *

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

11 *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

9 * Centre Party 6 * Liberal People's Party 3 *

1 *

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

1 Results of the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, t ...

in Grästorp: *

31.6% *

30.5% * Centre Party 14.1% *

6.3% * Liberal People's Party 5.2% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

4.2% *

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

3.6% * Left Party 3.5%

References

External links

Grästorp Municipality
- Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Grastorp Municipality Municipalities of Västra Götaland County Skaraborg