Voting under way in Sweden election that could see far right in government

Voters in Sweden are heading to the polls in an extremely close general election that will see either the far right enter government for the first time or the centre-left opposition reclaim power.

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

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list 1 of 3Sweden heads to the polls: What’s at stake in the knife-edge election?
list 2 of 39/11 at 25: How the ‘War on Terror’ helped mainstream Europe’s far right
list 3 of 3As Sweden heads to polls, Israel and Palestine policies are on the ballot

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The 59-year-old, who in 2021 became the first woman to serve as Sweden’s prime minister, voted with her husband at a school in her home municipality of Nacka, south of Stockholm.

Pre-election opinion polls have long credited the four parties in her left-wing bloc with a comfortable lead over conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s four-party alliance, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats.

But the gap narrowed significantly in the final days of the campaign.

Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson (L) and her husband Richard Friberg (R) cast their votes at a polling station in a school during Sweden’s general election, in Nacka on September 13, 2026 [AFP]

“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 pledged to boost the welfare state and help struggling households cope with the rising cost of living.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is seeking a second four-year term at the helm of the European Union nation.

He has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party centre-right coalition. It relies on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration, far-right party that has moved towards the political mainstream, for a parliamentary majority.

If the right-wing bloc is re-elected, the Sweden Democrats can expect Cabinet posts in the next government.

Kristersson has promised to focus on improving Swedes’ everyday lives, following his government’s clampdown on organised crime and immigration.

“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.

epa13233732 Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Akesson (L) votes in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, 12 September 2026, the day before the general election. Sweden's general election will take place on 13 September 2026, with voters electing members of the Riksdag as well as representatives in regional and municipal elections. EPA/CLAUDIO BRESCIANI SWEDEN OUT — Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Akesson (L) votes in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, September 12, 2026, the day before the general election [Claudio Bresciani/EPA]

The Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, took 20.5 percent of the vote in the 2022 election to become the biggest party on the right.

Kristersson announced in April that his conservative Moderates would allow the party into government if the right has a majority – though he would remain prime minister even if the Sweden Democrats are the stronger party.

Voting stations close at 8:00pm (18:00 GMT) when exit polls are expected to be published, with the first reliable results expected several hours later.

Some eight million people are eligible to vote in the election, in a country of 10.6 million where voter turnout regularly tops 80 percent.

About half of voters have cast their ballots in advance.

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