Sweden Election: Center-Left Takes 3-Seat Lead, Ending 4 Years of Right-Wing Rule

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's center-left opposition has taken a narrow lead in the country's general election, preliminary results showed Monday, positioning the bloc to form the next government and end four years of right-wing rule [240901].

With most votes counted, the four opposition parties led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson held a three-seat lead over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance [240901]. An exit poll by public broadcaster SVT had projected the center-left alliance to win about 51 percent of the vote, with the ruling right-wing bloc trailing at just under 47 percent [240387].

The result marks a significant shift for the Scandinavian nation, where the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) had been poised to enter government for the first time [238936]. Instead, the party remains outside the executive, though it is expected to retain significant influence on the right.

The race had been too close to call throughout the campaign. The final DN/Ipsos poll before election day found no clear leader between the two blocs [238739]. With more than half of votes counted, experts predicted the race could go down to the wire [240418]. A political scientist noted the contest was far closer than the previous election, when there was a clear winner [240161].

A divided left bloc

Andersson, 59, who previously served as Sweden's first female prime minister from 2021 to 2022, campaigned on a fierce defense of the welfare state against the liberal-conservative shift of recent years [240019]. Her party was projected to win about 28.6 percent of the vote [240019].

However, an Andersson victory does not guarantee a stable government. The four parties in the progressive bloc — the Social Democrats, the Greens, the Left Party, and the Center Party — broadly agree on strengthening the welfare state and raising public spending, but disagree on key issues including a wealth tax and building new nuclear reactors [240019]. The Center Party has ruled out joining a government with the Left Party, a stance that could complicate coalition talks [240019].

Voters supporting the opposition were also divided over which parties should join a Social Democrat-led government, according to polling [240180].

In the final televised debate before the election, Kristersson and Andersson argued over who would govern. Kristersson called his government plan "crystal clear," while Andersson refused to say which party leader she would call first if she won [240163].

Far-right influence persists

The Sweden Democrats, led by Jimmie Åkesson for two decades, had been expected to win about 18 percent of the vote [240019]. Kristersson's center-right bloc had promised to bring the party into government to renew its mandate, which would have marked the far right's first entry into a Swedish government [240019].

The party has spent years transforming from a group once treated as a political outcast into a trusted governing partner. In late June 2025, the party published a report detailing its past ties to fascist and Nazi organizations and the xenophobic and antisemitic views of some members. Åkesson apologized on the party's behalf but continues to fuel hostility toward the Muslim population in his speeches [240019].

During four years of government backed by the Sweden Democrats, Sweden abolished permanent residency for asylum seekers, tightened rules for immigrant welfare benefits, and increased deportations [240019]. Some of these restrictive policies have seeped into the center-left opposition, with Andersson pledging to maintain increasingly restrictive immigration policies if she takes power [240019].

Challenges ahead

Sweden's next government will face enormous challenges after election day, from war to climate to artificial intelligence [240140]. The incoming administration will also confront internal divisions within its own coalition.

If the Tidö parties had stayed in power, they faced difficult fights over key issues, with each party drawing its own red lines [238803].

The migration debate has lost prominence this campaign, with law and order giving way to health care, education, and the economy as top voter concerns [240019]. Shootings and gang violence have fallen sharply in recent years, with police data showing shootings dropped by nearly half in 2026 [240019].

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