Sweden's Knife-Edge Election Could Put Far Right in Government — SkimNews
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- Sweden held a general election Sunday with polling stations open from 8am to 8pm in a race where either the centre-left bloc or a right-wing alliance relying on the far-right Sweden Democrats could win.
- Magdalena Andersson, who became Sweden's first female PM in 2021, cast her ballot at a school in Nacka; pre-election polls had given her left-wing bloc a lead that narrowed sharply in the final campaign days.
- Ulf Kristersson is seeking a second four-year term; his centre-right coalition has governed since 2022 with parliamentary support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
- The Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, took 20.5% of the vote in 2022 to become the right's biggest party; Kristersson's Moderates announced in April they'd allow them into government if the right holds a parliamentary majority.
- About 8 million people are eligible to vote in a country of 10.6 million where turnout regularly exceeds 80%, and roughly half had already voted in advance.
Why it matters: A party with neo-Nazi roots that won 20.5% in 2022 could enter government for the first time if Kristersson's razor-thin bloc holds — reshaping Sweden's political mainstream and potentially emboldening far-right movements across Europe. The result hinges on roughly 4 million advance and Election Day voters in a nation where turnout consistently clears 80%.
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