Election posters of Swedish Prime Minister and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson in Stockholm. (AFP Photo)
Sweden is holding an election on Sept. 13 that will determine whether a conservative leader remains in charge and a hard-right party wins ministerial jobs for the first time, or whether the center-left returns to power.
More than 8 million people in the nation of about 10.6 million people are eligible to vote in the election for the 349-seat parliament in Stockholm, the Riksdag, which will elect the next prime minister.
While most countries in Europe are led by right-wing governments, opinion polls have for months suggested the Scandinavian country could oust its conservative bloc backed by the far-right, though the left’s lead has narrowed in the final days of the campaign.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party center-right coalition. It relies on outside supportfrom the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream, for a parliamentary majority. If the right is re-elected, it can expect Cabinet posts this time.
He’s up against Magdalena Andersson of the center-left Social Democrats, a party that more often than not led Swedish governments since World War II. Andersson served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election.
Experts say the campaign has been fragmented and incoherent, with policy questions such as how health care should be organized drowned out by the question of which parties will be able to put together a government.
