Abstract The recruiting of lay judges to the district courts is managed by the political parties. Despite repeated efforts the parties do not succeed in recruiting lay judges that reflect the structure of the inhabitants. Why not? This is the fundamental issue of this essay. This study is a multiple case study of two parties with different success in their recruiting work. The purpose is to study the process of nomination regarding lay judges at the district courts, at the latest election (2006). The study comprehends two Swedish parties at two different district courts. The ambition is to find out how important the membership population of the political parties is for the recruiting and to what extent the parties recruit lay judges outside the party. The empiric investigation mainly consists of interviews with political representatives with experience from nomination work. The investigation shows that the parties who succeed with recruiting also have a satisfactory membership population, and the other way around. Recruiting outside the party is very unusual. At the interviews information is revealed that indicates that the parties use the recruiting of lay judges as a power instrument.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The recruiting of lay judges to the district courts is managed by the political parties. Despite repeated efforts the parties do not succeed in recruiting lay judges that reflect the structure of the inhabitants. Why not? This is the fundamental issue of this essay.</p><p>This study is a multiple case study of two parties with different success in their recruiting work. The purpose is to study the process of nomination regarding lay judges at the district courts, at the latest election (2006). The study comprehends two Swedish parties at two different district courts. The ambition is to find out how important the membership population of the political parties is for the recruiting and to what extent the parties recruit lay judges outside the party. The empiric investigation mainly consists of interviews with political representatives with experience from nomination work. The investigation shows that the parties who succeed with recruiting also have a satisfactory membership population, and the other way around. Recruiting outside the party is very unusual. At the interviews information is revealed that indicates that the parties use the recruiting of lay judges as a power instrument.</p>