Sweden Election: Far Right Bids for First-Ever Role in Government

Voters in Sweden headed to the polls in a general election on September 13, 2026, deciding whether to see the centre-left opposition reclaim power or bring the anti-immigration, far-right Sweden Democrats into government for the first time, according to reporting by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

Polling stations opened across the European Union nation at 8:00 am local time on Sunday, with about eight million people eligible to vote in a country where turnout regularly exceeds 80 percent. Opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats cast her ballot early alongside her husband in Nacka, south of Stockholm. Pre-election opinion polls showed her four-party left-wing bloc holding a comfortable lead over conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s four-party alliance, though the gap narrowed significantly in the final days of the campaign.

Contrasting Visions for Sweden’s Next Government

Andersson framed the choice facing voters around the unprecedented possibility of a far-right governing role. It is now up to the Swedish people to decide which direction our country should take, Andersson told reporters after voting. Should we have a government entirely dominated by the Sweden Democrats? Something that has never happened in Sweden before? Or should we have a government led by me, which will steer Sweden in a new spirit of cooperation? Her party campaigned heavily on boosting the welfare state and assisting struggling households with the rising cost of living.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is seeking a second four-year term leading his three-party centre-right coalition. Since taking office in 2022, his government has relied on outside parliamentary support from the Sweden Democrats. If the right-wing bloc wins a majority, the Sweden Democrats expect to secure Cabinet posts. Kristersson told AFP before the vote that his administration wants to use new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people and make Sweden great again, following a legislative focus on clamping down on organized crime and immigration.

Rise of the Sweden Democrats

The Sweden Democrats emerged from neo-Nazi roots to capture 20.5 percent of the vote in the 2022 general election, establishing themselves as the biggest party on the right. In April, Kristersson announced that his conservative Moderates would formally allow the party into government if the right-wing bloc secures a parliamentary majority. However, Kristersson would remain prime minister even if the Sweden Democrats emerge as the stronger party. Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson cast his ballot in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby on September 12, 2026.

Voter participation remained high, with roughly half of the electorate casting advance ballots ahead of Sunday’s main vote. Voting stations close at 8:00 pm local time, at which point exit polls are scheduled for release. The first reliable results are expected several hours later as election authorities process the ballots.