Östra Göinge Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in Broby. The present municipality was formed in 1974 when the former municipalities of Broby, Glimåkra, Hjärsås and Knislinge were amalgamated. There are 8 smaller population centers in the municipality, where approximately 80 percent of the population lives, surrounded by sparsely populated rural areas.
Geography
Östra Göinge Municipality is part of, a region in northern Scania which borders the provinces Småland and Blekinge. The landscape is gently undulating and densely forested with deciduous and coniferous trees, interspersed with open areas of flat and fertile agricultural land. Even though this is a typical northern Scanian landscape, Östra Göinge's abundance of small forest tarns, winding brooks and large lakes make it similar to the province Småland as well. The large, scenic river Helgeån runs through the municipality, offering ample opportunities for fishing of pike, perch and pike-perch, as well as brown trout, eel, whitefish and chub.
History
The Snapphane, Scanian resistance fighters of 17th century, took refuge in the forests of Östra Göinge. Considered rebels and bandits by the Swedish army, the Snapphanar were protected by the local population and their bravery is still cherished in the municipality. All of Göingebygden endured hardship and suffered devastation during the times after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, during Scania's transition from being a Danish to becoming a Swedish ruled territory. The dialect of Göingebygden has historically been distinguishable from the southern Scanian dialects as well as the northern Småland dialects, perhaps because the population took pride in the area's historical autonomy and resilient resistance. The coat of arms for Östra Göinge depicts two palm branches crossing each other, a traditional symbol of peace and unity designed for and given to the area after it became Swedish. The lower part of the coat of arms depicts hammers, and was added when the municipality was joined with an adjacent municipality in 1976.
Localities
There are 8 urban areas in Östra Göinge Municipality. In the table they are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.
#
Locality
Population
1
Knislinge
3,016
2
Broby
2,931
3
Glimåkra
1,483
4
Sibbhult
1,383
5
Hanaskog
1,316
6
Immeln
291
7
Hjärsås
233
8
Östanå
221
Elections
Below are the results listed from since the 1973 municipal reform. Between 1988 and 1998 the Sweden Democrats' results were not published by the SCB due to the party's small size nationwide. "Turnout" denotes the percentage of the electorate casting a ballot, but "Votes" only applies to valid ballots cast.
Blocs This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party. "Elected" is the total number of percentage points from the municipality that went to parties who were elected to the Riksdag.
Year
Turnout
Votes
Left
Right
SD
Other
Elected
1973
91.9
9,046
55.2
42.4
0.0
2.4
97.6
1976
92.1
9,583
54.2
43.7
0.0
2.0
98.0
1979
91.2
9,734
55.6
42.0
0.0
2.4
97.6
1982
91.8
9,857
57.8
38.6
0.0
3.6
96.4
1985
89.6
9,700
58.6
40.5
0.0
0.9
99.1
1988
85.7
9,244
64.2
32.4
0.0
5.4
94.6
1991
86.3
9,362
51.7
35.9
0.0
12.4
96.0
1994
86.5
9,371
66.2
31.8
0.0
2.0
98.0
1998
79.4
8,334
62.6
35.7
0.0
1.7
98.3
2002
78.2
8,038
59.7
36.5
0.0
3.8
96.2
2006
80.2
8,233
52.4
39.5
0.0
8.1
91.9
2010
83.6
8,645
44.2
41.2
13.7
0.9
99.1
2014
85.5
8,855
42.8
29.0
26.0
2.2
97.8
Industry
A famous, very fine-grained black diabase is mined in Östra Göinge. Because of the extremely high quality of the diabase from this area, it is in high demand worldwide and has become popular with artists all over the globe, one of the more well-known being Takashi Narahafrom Japan. It is primarily used for gravestones, monuments, sculptures, and other forms of stone artworks, but also to decorate buildings. The Empire State Building is partly covered with diabase from the area and the US Marine Corps War Memorial has a foundation of diabase from Göingebygden. Scania AB and Tarkett have a presence in Östra Göinge.
