Sweden Votes in High-Stakes Election That Could Put the Populist Right in Government for the First Time

Swedish voters cast ballots Sunday in a general election that could hand the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats a role in government for the first time, a shift that would rank among the most significant victories yet for the populist right in Europe.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time and were set to close at 8 p.m., when exit polls were due. The first reliable results were expected several hours later. About half of the roughly 8 million eligible voters already had cast ballots in advance.

The election decides all 349 seats in the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, where 175 seats are needed for a majority.

A Dead Heat After a Long Left-Wing Lead

For most of the campaign, opinion polls gave the four parties in the left-wing bloc a comfortable lead over the conservative alliance led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

That gap narrowed sharply in the final stretch, turning the race into a virtual dead heat and leaving the outcome genuinely uncertain heading into election day.

Kristersson's four-party bloc includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, who have propped up his minority government since 2022 under a deal that gave the party influence over immigration and crime policy in exchange for its support in parliament.

Turnout regularly tops 80 percent in a country of about 10.6 million people, and election officials reported steady traffic through the day.

Akesson's Long March Into the Mainstream

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson, 47, has spent two decades steering a party with neo-Nazi roots into the political mainstream. He is now openly aiming for a seat at the cabinet table.

Kristersson has promised the far right key cabinet posts if the right-wing bloc wins, a step that would end decades of the party being held at arm's length by the political establishment.

"We've already won!" Akesson told a final rally Saturday in Stockholm, where supporters held blue-and-yellow posters reading "Make Sweden Sweden Again."

Kristersson struck a confident tone of his own. He said his government's crackdown on organized crime and unchecked migration is showing results, and told voters he wants to "make Sweden great again," borrowing a line made famous by President Donald Trump.

Crime and Migration at the Center

Deadly shootings and bombings tied to organized crime networks have fallen significantly in recent years, and asylum applications are at a record low, giving the governing parties a record they are eager to defend.

Migration has dominated the campaign on both sides. The left accuses the right of dividing the country, while the right says a harder line has made Swedish streets safer and public services more sustainable.

Magdalena Andersson, who leads the Social Democrats and in 2021-22 became the first woman to serve as Sweden's prime minister, voted early Sunday near Stockholm. She framed the election as a choice between a government dominated by the Sweden Democrats and one led by her.

"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?" she told reporters, promising to strengthen the welfare state and help households squeezed by rising costs.

Her party, which governed Sweden for much of the 20th century and remains the country's largest, has pledged to bolster benefits and ease pressure on working families.

What Happens Next

The mechanics of forming a government differ sharply depending on who wins.

If the right-wing bloc prevails, the path is relatively straightforward: Kristersson has already signaled he would bring the Sweden Democrats into the cabinet, a first in Swedish history. That would give the anti-immigration party its first formal share of governing power.

A left-wing victory would likely be messier. The four left parties are ideologically splintered, and even with a majority they would face difficult negotiations to assemble a governing coalition.

Whichever way it breaks, the result will be read far beyond Scandinavia. Sweden would become the latest country where a party once confined to the fringe has moved toward the center of power, following gains by populist and nationalist movements across the continent.

With roughly half of ballots already cast and turnout on pace to top 80 percent, the country should have a clear picture within hours. The question now is whether Sweden follows its neighbors to the right, or hands the left another term in charge.