Swedes vote in election that could bring far right into government

Stockholm, Sweden. Swedes were voting on Sunday in a closely contested parliamentary election that could bring a far-right party into government for the first time or shift the country back towards the liberalism for which it has long been known.

The centre-left opposition held a narrow lead over the ruling right-wing bloc ahead of the September 13 vote, although Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had narrowed the gap in the final weeks of campaigning.

Competing blocs

Several opinion polls published during the week showed the centre-left opposition ahead, while Kristersson, who had trailed throughout his four years in office, gained ground as rival Magdalena Andersson and her Social Democrats lost support.

Kristersson has pledged to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into government if his bloc wins.

“We can unify parties, voters and issues into joint action. That’s why we get things done,” he told reporters this week.

Policy debate

Critics said the government’s agenda was undermining civil liberties and requiring immigrants to conform more closely to Swedish cultural norms or leave the country.

“We’ve become a harder society, a quieter society, but also a poorer society as we’ve had growth far below our potential and where households see their pay checks buy less and less,” Andersson told Reuters, adding that uniting people had made Sweden strong.

Supporters of the right-wing bloc said its policies had helped curb gang violence and cut immigration sharply. They said a victory would represent public backing for that approach and similar policies in the years ahead.

European context and voting timetable

Electoral success for the Sweden Democrats was likely to be welcomed by rising far-right parties across Europe, following a significant victory this month by the anti-immigrant AfD in a German state election.

Polling stations in the EU member state of 10 million people, which joined NATO after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, opened at 8 a.m. local time, or 0600 GMT. Exit polls were due shortly after polls closed at 1800 GMT, with data indicating the result expected at about 1900 GMT.