Editing Gothenburg (section)

== Government ==
{{Main|Gothenburg Municipality}}
Gothenburg became a city municipality with an elected city council when the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wimarson |first1=Nils |title=Göteborg. En översikt vid trehundraårsjubileet 1923 över stadens kommunala, kulturella och sociala förhållanden samt viktigaste näringsgrenar |url=https://runeberg.org/gbg1923/0647.html |website=runeberg.org |publisher=Stadsfullmäktiges jubeleumsberedning |year=1923 |page=647 |access-date=31 August 2015 |archive-date=22 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922030847/http://runeberg.org/gbg1923/0647.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The municipality has an assembly consisting of 81 members,<ref>{{cite web |title=Kommunfullmäktige |url=https://goteborg.se/wps/portal/invanare/kommun-o-politik/kommunens-organisation/kommunfullmaktige/!ut/p/z1/hY5NDoIwGAXP4gX6lR9puywLFDCCiQnQjSmm1hqghhKbeHrxAMa3m8wsHghoQUzyZbRcjJ3ksHInkksdFCeaBhxXO5bh_FzW2bE8VGkUQ_MvEKvGP8YxFCBMPyJ_HRFGYbglNKSMURJTljACTQodYY-9898rfOojqkHM6qZmNaO7dQu03nukrdWDQk7Bc2zfueObD6ybGQo!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ |website=goteborg.se |publisher=[[Gothenburg Municipality]] |access-date=31 August 2015 |archive-date=4 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704070314/https://goteborg.se/wps/portal/start/kommun-o-politik/kommunens-organisation/kommunfullmaktige/om-kommunfullmaktige/!ut/p/z1/hY_RCoIwFIbfaGdO0-1yu1BSSYsk201orCWoC5UGPX0WXQXluTvn_z8-DkgoQfbVvdHV1Ji-auf9KP1T7sRbKhyOs4iFeL1P8nCTpJlwPTgsFeQc4x_D8Yf_PosdES7GUUbe_KL_j2CBj0E2dYfsuUMYEbIKKKGM0cCjzGfB63_e1y7VIAd1UYMa0NWME5TWWqSN0a1Co4JbVxTlI-VPB9F3Ag!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ |url-status=live}}</ref> elected every fourth year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vad gör Valmyndigheten "mellan valen"? |url=http://www.val.se/om_oss/det_har_gor_vi/valmyndigheten_mellan_valen/index.html |website=val.se |publisher=[[Election Authority (Sweden)]] |access-date=31 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814075516/http://www.val.se/om_oss/det_har_gor_vi/valmyndigheten_mellan_valen/index.html |archive-date=14 August 2015 }}</ref> Political decisions depend on citizens considering them legitimate. Political legitimacy can be based on various factors: legality, due process, and equality before the law, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of public policy. One method used to achieve greater legitimacy for controversial policy reforms such as congestion charges is to allow citizens to decide or advise on the issue in public referendums.

In December 2010 a petition for a local referendum on the congestion tax, signed by 28,000 citizens, was submitted to the City Council. This right to submit so-called "people's initiatives" was inscribed in the Local Government Act, which obliged local governments to hold a local referendum if petitioned by 5% of the citizens unless the issue was deemed to be outside their area of jurisdiction or if a majority in the City Council voted against holding such a referendum.<ref name="Hysing 1–8">{{Cite journal |last=Hysing |first=Erik |date=1 April 2015 |title=Citizen participation or representative government – Building legitimacy for the Gothenburg congestion tax |journal=Transport Policy |volume=39 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.01.002}}</ref> A second petition for a referendum, signed by 57,000 citizens, was submitted to the local government in February 2013. This petition followed a campaign organised by a local newspaper – Göteborgs Tidningen – whose editor-in-chief argued that the paper's involvement was justified by the large public response to a series of articles on the congestion tax, as well as out of concern for the local democracy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84921388329&origin=inward&txGid=6098E928D2B201198F32E9CC91EA30A7.wsnAw8kcdt7IPYLO0V48gA:8 |title=Scopus – Welcome to Scopus |website=scopus.com |access-date=14 November 2016}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Hysing 1–8" />
{{wide image|G2Atorg-panorama.jpg|1000px|View over [[Gustaf Adolfs torg, Göteborg|Gustav Adolfs torg]], square named after [[Gustavus Adolphus]], the founding father of Gothenburg}}