Sweden’s left-wing wins elections

STOCKHOLM

Sweden's Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson speaks during the Social Democrats' election night party in Stockholm on September 13, 2026. (AFP Photo)

Sweden’s left-wing opposition won a narrow majority in the country’s general election after the vote count ended on Sept. 17, but faces laborious negotiations to form a government.

The four parties in the leftwing bloc, led by Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats, hold a three-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over outgoing prime minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing alliance, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

But only around 50,000 votes separated the two sides in the country of 10.6 million people.

With the opposition deeply splintered over ideological differences, Andersson’s negotiating skills will be put to the test to unite the bloc, made up of the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Greens Party and the Centre Party.

The 59-year-old, Sweden’s first woman prime minister in 2021-2022 and finance minister for seven years  before that, is known as a hardnosed technocrat with a direct and no-nonsense style.

The negotiations could drag on for weeks, and if Andersson were to fail, Kristersson would be waiting to try to build his own majority.