Right-wing populists are losing out
Social Democrats probably win election in Sweden
Updated 09/14/2026 – 12:54 amReading time: 2 minutes
Sweden’s Social Democrats are ahead in the parliamentary elections, and Prime Minister Kristersson has to fight for power. But who can govern is still an open question.
In the parliamentary election in Sweden The opposition led by the Social Democrats and Magdalena Andersson is in the lead by a razor-thin margin. After counting a good 50 percent of the votes, the four left-wing opposition parties came to 49.3 percent on Sunday evening. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing alliance was 49.1 percent. The right-wing populist Sweden Democrats lost support for the first time since entering parliament in 2010, only reaching 17.7 percent.
At the Social Democrats’ election party, the forecasts were celebrated with loud cheers. What was particularly surprising was the loss of votes for the Sweden Democrats, who had previously been the second strongest force in parliament. The forecasts are “a little disappointing,” said a member of the right-wing populist party, Julia Kronlid, to the AFP news agency. “But it’s not over yet, it can still change.”
According to broadcaster SVT, the center-left camp has 175 seats in parliament and Kristersson’s camp has 174. Results from the electoral authority are expected late Sunday evening or early Monday morning. Given the tight interim results, the outcome could only be known in a few days, after all votes cast abroad have been counted.
Forming a government in Sweden could be difficult
The Election result will probably not change Sweden’s pro-Western and pro-Ukrainian stance. But he will decide whether the Nordic country of 10.6 million people ends its move away from its liberal traditions and toward right-wing immigration policies.
During the election campaign, Kristersson broke a taboo and declared that he would bring the Sweden Democrats into government in order to form a majority coalition. The Sweden Democrats are controversial. They admit that their party was founded in part by neo-Nazis in the 1980s. However, such extremists have been removed from their own ranks and apologized for the past.
