Lidingö Municipality

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**Lidingö Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Location of Lidingö Municipality adjacent to Stockholm Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Lidingö
	59°22′ N 18°9′ E
	County	Stockholm County
	Province	Uplandia
	Area Rank	30.49 km² 285th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	42,262 49th of 290
	Density	1358/km²

Coordinates: 59°22′ N 18°9′ E

Lidingö Municipality, is a Swedish municipality just east of Stockholm in southeast central Sweden and a part of the Stockholm metropolitan area. It is chiefly located on the island Lidingö, but also incorporates few smaller islands in the surroundings, most notably the islets Fjäderholmarna within the Stockholm archipelago.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Industry
4 Politics
- 4.1 Election results
5 Sister cities
6 Reference
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Geography

Fjäderholmarna

The island Lidingö is connected to the city of Stockholm by two bridges. One is for cars and one for the Lidingöbanan suburban tramway and pedestrians. The bridges lead directly to Ropsten, a station of the Stockholm subway.

While Lidingö is for statistical purposes divided into the three towns Lidingö, Brevik and Sticklinge Udde, in reality the three towns have grown together and the names are hardly used, usually only the Lidingö is used. If necessary historical names, usually derived from old farms, are used.

[edit] History

Lidingö traces its history to at least 600 BC, from when remains have been found. According to legend, Lidingö was a place where the Vikings would gather before setting sails to eastern areas. Therefore when the city arms was to be chosen in 1928 a Viking ship became the motif, in the colors of the Swedish flag.

[edit] Industry

The island itself hosts very few industries, a relatively well-known one being AGA AB, which established production on the island in 1912. Much of the populated land area is built with one-family houses; a total of 36% of the population, or 7 020 people (2006), live in such houses [1] and, to a large extent, commute to work in Stockholm or other municipalities of Greater Stockholm.

There are also quite a number conference mansions in the northern parts of the island, providing a part of the industry of Lidingö.

Lidingö is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Sweden.

The members of the famous Swedish pop group ABBA used to reside on Lidingo.

[edit] Politics

The island's politics has traditionally been dominated by the centre-right Moderate Party. They currently run the municipality in coalition with the Liberal People's Party.

Mayor and chairman of the municipal executive board is Paul Lindquist from the Moderate Party.

[edit] Election results

Election results 2006
Moderate Party	43,24%
Liberal People's Party	13,31%
Social Democrates	12,97%
Lidingö Party	12,06%
Centre Party	6,14%
Christian Democrats	4,66%
Green Party	4,00%
Left Party	2,77%

[edit] Sister cities

In 1942, Lidingö created a committee to provide support for the people in Lojo in the southern part of Finland who suffered badly during World War II. An orphanage was opened in Lidingö and money was collected and sent to Lojo. The orphanage was closed in 1943 as most of the children then had returned to Finland. The money that was left over was used to provide food for the children in Lojo. Lidingö and Lojo still maintain a close relationship.

Another sister city is Alameda, California. The initiatve came from Alameda in 1959 and was part of President Eisenhower´s people-to-people-movement. The purpose was to develop better understanding between people from different countries after World War II. Both Alameda and Lidingö are islands with a bridge connecting them to a big city.

As the Baltic states were liberated from the Soviet Union in 1990-91, Lidingö looked for a new sister city in the area. Saldus in Latvia was selected. During the years, a number of environmental, cultural and other projects have been accomplished.