Riksdag Swedish king Gustav I Vasa to include representatives from all the four social estates: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers (property-owning commoners in the towns such as merchants etc.), and the yeomanry (freehold farmers). This form of "Ständestaat" representation lasted until 1865, when representation by estate was abolished and the modern bicameral parliament established. Effectively, however, it did not become a parliament in the modern sense until parliamentary principles were established in the political system in Sweden, in 1917. On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a bicameral legislature, consisting of "Första kammaren" or the First
History of the Riksdag reflected the lines of division in Swedish society: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers and the peasantry. Under the Instrument of Government of 1809 the Riksdag shared the powers of government with the King. On the basis of the 1863 electoral reform bill the Estates voted in 1866 to dissolve the Riksdag of the Estates and establish a new Riksdag. The new Riksdag was a political assembly with two chambers where the members were chosen in national elections. The revolution was that citizens could participate and vote in the elections without regard to which Estate they had hitherto belonged; instead