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Obama wins primary in Sweden

David Landes
David Landes - [email protected]
Obama wins primary in Sweden

Barack Obama has handily defeated rival Hillary Clinton in a vote by registered members of the Democratic Party living in Sweden.

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Obama received a total of 69.7 percent of the 274 votes cast, while 29.9 percent voted for Clinton.

The vote was organized by the Swedish chapter of Democrats Abroad, the overseas arm of the US Democratic Party, as a part of a Global Primary in which 23,105 votes were cast from 164 countries and territories.

"People came out of the woodwork and showed that they care about their country even though they are living in Sweden," said Bill Borden, President of Democrats Abroad Sweden.

According to Borden, the new primary voting process attracted around 150 new members to Democrats Abroad Sweden, bringing total membership to 545.

The results for Sweden closely reflect the world-wide tallies, in which the Illinois senator collected 65.8 percent of the votes and the former first lady received 32.5 percent.

The vote took place between February 5th and February 12th at voting centers in over 30 countries, including Tully’s Café in Stockholm. Votes were also collected via the internet, mail, and fax.

While internet voting was by far the easiest method for casting a vote, Borden was struck that a majority of people chose to vote in person.

"People wanted to go to the polls; they wanted to have that experience of being with other Americans when casting their ballot," he said.

Besides the two front-runners, the only other Democratic primary candidate to register any support from Democrats living in Sweden was Dennis Kucinich, who received one vote.

The results of the Global Primary give Obama three delegate votes and Senator Clinton 1.5 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention in August in Denver, Colorado.

An additional 2.5 delegate votes will be determined at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in April.

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