Sweden votes in tight election that could bring far right into cabinet

The Sweden Democrats could join the government for the first time if the right-wing bloc prevails.

By AFP and The Associated Press

Published On 13 Sep 202613 Sep 2026

Swedes began voting Sunday in a closely contested general election that could either bring the far right into government for the first time or return the centre-left opposition to power.

Magdalena Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, was among the first to cast her ballot after polling stations opened at 8:00am (06:00 GMT).

Andersson, who became Sweden’s first female prime minister in 2021, voted with her husband at a school in Nacka, her home municipality south of Stockholm.

Pre-election polling had consistently given the four parties in her left-wing bloc a comfortable advantage over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s four-party conservative alliance, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats.

However, the margin narrowed sharply during the final days of the campaign.

“It is now up to the Swedish people to decide which direction our country should take. 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?” Andersson told reporters after voting.

Her party has campaigned on strengthening the welfare state and providing relief to households struggling with the rising cost of living.

Kristersson is seeking a second four-year term leading the European Union member state.

He has governed since 2022 with a three-party centre-right coalition that depends on parliamentary support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats to maintain its majority.

If the right-wing bloc retains power, the Sweden Democrats are expected to receive cabinet positions in the next government.

Kristersson has pledged to build on his government’s measures against organised crime and immigration to improve Swedes’ daily lives.

“We want to use our new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people … to make Sweden great again,” Kristersson told news agency AFP before the vote.

The Sweden Democrats, whose origins trace back to neo-Nazism, won 20.5 percent of the vote in the 2022 election, making it the largest party in the right-wing bloc.

In April, Kristersson announced that his conservative Moderates would include the party in government if the right secured a majority. He would remain prime minister even if the Sweden Democrats emerged as the bloc’s largest party.

Polling stations close at 8:00pm (18:00 GMT), when exit polls are expected to be released. The first reliable results should follow several hours later.

Approximately eight million people are eligible to vote in the country of 10.6 million, where turnout regularly exceeds 80 percent.

About half of the electorate has already cast advance ballots.

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