New coalition will follow, led by a Social Democracy that is moving further to the right
With 176 seats the “red-green” opposition defeated the “blue-yellow” (colours of the Swedish flag) right-wing parties who won 173 seats. A new coalition government led by Social Democracy, however, will continue many of the policies of the right-wing, on militarism, deportations, “law-and-order” repression, nuclear power and more.
The elections also included interesting trends such as a turn to the left among young people and people from migrant backgrounds, with increased votes for the Left Party and the Greens.
Below are articles analysing the elections, written for Offensiv, the paper of Socialistiskt Alternativ (ISA in Sweden).
How Could the Social Democrats Miss the Target?
By Elin Gauffin
How could the much-hated right-wing government fare so well in the election, and how could the Social Democrats squander a clear election victory? At the time of writing, the final vote count is not yet complete, but it is clear that the Right has managed to mobilise and manoeuvre its way out of the huge electoral defeat it so richly deserved.
With Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister, poverty has doubled and unemployment has soared. The unemployed, the sick and people with disabilities have lost their incomes and benefits. Never have the richest been so rich, nor has the military swallowed up so much money.
Worst of all is how racism has been normalised, how babies, teenagers and the elderly have been deported to war zones, and how openly racist laws have made the state more repressive and dismantled democracy. So the government should have been sent packing, yet Ulf Kristersson can still sit there and smile at the fact that the Moderates (his party) made gains in the election. If we include votes “lended” by the Moderates to the Liberal Party, to keep them over the 4% parliamentary threshold, the Moderates’ share is even higher than the 19.9% currently reported.
In Statistics (Sweden’s major opinion poll) published in early June, the ‘red-green’ opposition had 55.2 per cent support – of which the Social Democrats accounted for 33.9 per cent. The Liberals had 2.5 per cent, and if they had not reached 4 per cent, the pro government bloc would have had only 39.9 per cent. The opposition therefore had a 15.3 per cent lead. How could they lose it?
In the preliminary election results, the Social Democrats have only 28.1 per cent, which is their worst result since the introduction of universal suffrage. It is not much worse than in 2018, when the party secured 28.3 per cent, but the difference is that back then the Social Democrats had held the post of Prime Minister – a position that often comes at a cost – whereas now the slump is occurring despite them having been in opposition. The Social Democrats lost ground across the country, including in their traditional stronghold of Norrbotten in the North, where they fell by four percentage points. In Hallstahammar council, the Social Democrats lost power after 105 years in office.
The Social Democrats’ bourgeoisification has been ongoing for decades. During the last parliamentary term, the Social Democrats tried to compete with the right-wing in taking a hard line on immigration. On the website for a humane refugee policy, one can see how the Social Democrats voted and that they voted for the worst laws in the parliament.
Above all, the Social Democrats have been hammering home during the election campaign – and for several years – that they want a “strict migration policy”. Even centre-right commentators have now, following the election, pointed out that the Social Democrats’ warnings about the racist Sweden Democrats (SD) becoming ministers in the next government did not seem credible when they themselves have voted through many of the SD’s proposals.
Combating right-wing politics with right-wing politics is difficult, and this approach did not go down well. Admittedly, the Social Democrats’ election manifesto (which, strangely enough, was not launched until 1 September) stated that the lack of sick pay for the first day off work would be abolished, child benefit increased and occupational pensions introduced. But this came across as just another in the long line of election promises that rained down from all the major parties during the campaign, which is hard to take seriously. The same Social Democratic party wanted to introduce market rents (which was stopped by a revolt), weakened both the Employment Protection Act (LAS) and the right to strike, and has governed in countless local authorities and made millions of kronor worth of cuts. It has for 30 years allowed the ‘market school’ system to remain, brought Sweden into NATO, etc – is now suddenly supposed to be on the workers’ side?
Not to mention the Moderates’ outright vote-buying. The Moderates have for years been opposed to subsidised fares on public transport. In Gothenburg, for example, there was a subsidy that the Moderates scrapped in 2018. But now Ulf Kristersson’s government has decided to halve the price of public transport just before the election (which, incidentally, shows that free public transport is entirely possible and that the decision does not even need to be taken at regional level). The same applies to the temporary reduction in fuel prices, which is due to end in November. Have people really voted for the Moderates because they have suddenly announced that they want to abolish child care fees (without explaining how this will be funded)?
During the first half of the right-wing government’s term, real wages fell. We are still in a recession, but Kristersson has been fortunate that the situation has begun to turn around just in time for the election. Real wages are no longer falling, and the reduced VAT has played a small part in this. But the right is, of course, working to maintain division.
According to the organisation ‘Makalösa föräldrar’, single parents earning 25,000 kronor are 3,100 kronor in the red every month. The new, reduced unemployment benefit is now beginning to take effect, with those worst affected ending up on SEK 8,000 (790 euro) per month before tax. Not least, the 25 per cent rent increases over the last four years are behind the doubling of the number of people living in poverty in Sweden.
When the right wing cuts taxes, it is always the richest who benefit the most. In addition to the extra tax bonus the government granted to the richest 1 per cent, the middle class always receives more from the earned income tax credit than low-income earners. So it may be that some middle-class voters have switched to the Moderates looking solely at their own short-term financial interests, for example in Tallkrogen and Sköndal in Stockholm, which turned to the right.
Lessons of the Election
The lesson from this election is that the right has grown so strong that it cannot be defeated simply by voting for a weak and divided opposition that does not even promise to overturn the policies of the right-wing government. The right has at its disposal the billionaires with their billions and a large voter base where reactionary ideas have become more legitimised and harder to combat. The week before the election, the capitalists Martin Lorentzon (Spotify) and Jacob Wallenberg (Ericsson aso) came out and warned against the Left Party. Not only the Sweden Democrats but also the Moderates and the Christian Democrats have spouted racism. That rubbish can take quite a firm hold amongst the electorate.
When Liberal leader Simona Mohamsson hugged Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the racist SD, for the first time, in March, the Liberals’ poll ratings fell even further. This was because the hug took place at a press conference where Mohamsson made it clear that she had decided to break with the party’s previous stance of not allowing the racist party into a government. Less than 2 per cent of Swedes supported the Liberals after this, and the party held an extraordinary, farcical and crisis-ridden national conference that was broadcast on TV.
Then came the major coup of the election campaign. The right wing does not just have billionaires and a reactionary voter base. They have access to the machinery of the state. Mohamsson and the Liberals received an incredible amount of TV airtime in the final stages of the election campaign, and the opinion polls played a role in boosting the party’s support, actively cheered on by Jimmie Åkesson.
The Moderates and the other right-wing parties helped propel the Liberals from 2 to 5.5 per cent in just a few weeks. Exit polls revealed that only 40 per cent of those who voted for the Liberals in this election had done so in 2022. At the same time, there was all-out infighting within the so-called red-green opposition, where Magdalena Andersson snubbed the Left Party in full view of the public. All party leaders participated in fostering a stifling nationalism where ‘doing what’s best for Sweden’ was repeated time and again – a completely false picture, as one person’s bread is another’s death.
The Most Powerful Tool Against the Right
Such a strong right-wing movement must be challenged through struggle. The small-scale struggles that have taken place demonstrate this. The raised voices of the teenagers and others facing deportation, together with the support refugees received through demonstrations, succeeded in shifting public opinion so that 76 per cent were opposed to the deportation of teenagers.
The massive climate demonstration in Stockholm in August also led to a surge of interest in climate issues. However, the fact that the trade union movement has failed to mobilise for a broad political struggle against the government over the past four years of anti-worker, racist and climate-denying policies proved to be a millstone around its neck in the election campaign. This is particularly so as the red-green coalition is not calling for a struggle either, but merely urging people to vote for a weak programme.
The most important aspect of the election result is that the Sweden Democrats’ rise has been halted, at least temporarily; that there has been a radicalisation to the left amongst low-income earners and people from migrant backgrounds – something reflected in a sharp increase in left-wing votes in suburban areas; and that the right-wing trend amongst young people has reversed. Young people represent the future.
Socialist Alternative is calling for the building of resistance movements. It is through active and massive workers’ struggle, combined with a socialist programme, that the nationalist straitjacket can be broken and the right wing defeated. This will be necessary even if Social Democracy succeeds in forming a government.
A Setback for the Racist Sweden Democrats
17 September 2026
The election was a major setback for the Sweden Democrats. The SD racists lost ground in 285 of Sweden’s 290 municipalities. The SD lost particularly heavily among younger voters – down 7 percentage points – and in their former strongholds, not least in Skåne (the south). In the Bjuv local elections, for example, the party fell by 9.3 percentage points. In another former stronghold, Region Blekinge – which was governed by the SD – the racist party’s decline paves the way for a change of regional government.
By Per Olsson // Article in Offensiv
The SD’s decline is partly a consequence of other parties, not least the Moderates, copying the party’s policies, and the fact that its time as part of the governing coalition has made it harder to maintain the pretence that it is not part of the establishment.
The SD leadership will respond to the election defeat by escalating racism, hatred of Muslims and the blame game. The fact that Jimmie Åkesson concluded SVT’s (public service television) election debate on 11 September with a hateful remark that ‘this could be the first general election in which Muslim immigration tips the balance’ sent a clear warning signal about what lies ahead.
The Sweden Democrats’ decline can also be partly explained by the emergence of new, dangerous racist parties such as the Örebro Party, which became the second-largest party in Örebro municipality (17.2 per cent) and the third-largest party in the Örebro Region (15.5 per cent), and the Malmö List, which was elected to Malmö City Council.
The election result has dealt a blow to the Sweden Democrats, but the threat from the far right remains, and there is an imminent risk that the Sweden Democrats will grow once again under a new Social Democratic-led government. This is the cautionary tale from, for example, Austria, where the far-right FPÖ performed poorly in the 2019 election – particularly amongst young people – and saw its support plummet by 9.8 percentage points compared with the 2017 election, only to become the country’s largest party in the most recent election (2024).
Parallels can also be drawn with both ‘Trump 2.0’ and what happened in the UK after the Labour Party took power in 2024 and, from day one, reneged on all the promises it had made during the election regarding change. Right-wing policies continued, which gave Reform UK and other racist parties the opportunity to capitalise on the discontent caused by government policy.
As long as the political vacuum on the left is not filled by a strong anti-capitalist left-wing alternative and a militant trade union movement that stands for collective struggle from below and builds anti-racism, there is a risk that the SD could make a comeback. The fact that the entire right wing has adopted a more or less racist ‘divide and rule’ tactic is linked to the crises of capitalism and its enormous inequalities – the failing system is protected by blaming someone else. The struggle against racism and the far right is therefore also a struggle against capitalism – and for the socialist rebirth of the labour movement.
The Left Party Saw the Biggest Increase in the Election
The election was a success for the Left Party. Not least in the metropolitan areas, the party was able to capitalise on the left-wing momentum. The Left Party achieved one of its best-ever results in the City of Stockholm. In the Malmö local elections, the party also achieved its best-ever result, securing 17.2 per cent of the vote.
By Per Olsson // Article in Offensiv
In Gothenburg and Uppsala, the Left Party retained its position as the third-largest party. In northern Sweden, the gains were more modest, and in Norrbotten, the Left Party even lost ground, which can be partly explained by the industrial boom that may give the impression that the policies of the government have worked.
The Social Democrats’ shift to the right and the shift in public opinion that took place in 2026 – reflected, amongst other things, in growing opposition to deportations – are some of the reasons why the Left Party made gains in the election and secured 8.3 per cent of the vote, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared with the 2022 election.
The Left Party has enjoyed its greatest successes in working-class suburbs where many people from ethnic minority backgrounds live. In the Spånga 13 Tensta C constituency in Stockholm, the party came top with 54.3 per cent of the vote, and in Rosengård in Malmö, for example, the Left Party secured 40 per cent.
In the absence of alternatives on the left, the Left Party was able to win new votes. Furthermore, attacks from capitalists and the right contributed to the party being perceived as more left-wing than it actually is.
However, the Left Party did not go into the election on a platform of working-class politics and socialism; rather, more than ever, its policy was aimed at joining a new Social Democratic-led government. This, in turn, led the party leadership to begin the election campaign by declaring their support for continued Swedish membership of NATO and subsequently distancing themselves from the anti-capitalist provisions in their own party programme, as party leader Nooshi Dadgostar did during the SVT debate. In the same interview, the Left Party leader stated that the party would not demand the reversal of increased repression, and during the election, the Green Party was more explicit in its opposition to the inhumane refugee policy than the Left Party was.
Whilst the party’s political stance was being watered down, the leadership continued to purge activists.
However, the fact that the Left Party, and indeed the Green Party, stood firm on the demand for a billionaire’s tax – despite the threats and blackmail from the super-rich – provided support and helped to conceal all the concessions the Left Party leadership had made to the Social Democrats.
Nevertheless, the Left Party’s electoral success and the left-wing momentum it reflects point to a climate that is more favourable both to the struggle and to the building of a socialist left which, unlike the Left Party leadership, dares to challenge capitalism.
What Lies Ahead After the Election?
During the election, the Social Democrats made it clear that if the party is allowed to form a government, there will be no decisive change in political direction. As Arbetet, paper for the trade union federation LO, wrote in an editorial, the Social Democrats’ manifesto contained “no concrete vision of what society should look like” under a new Social Democrat-led government.
By Per Olsson // Editorial in Offensiv
To further emphasise that social democracy’s right-wing course remains unchanged, constant invitations to cooperate were extended not least to the Christian Democrats, but also to the Moderates on issues such as energy policy (more nuclear power).
And to keep the capitalists and the wealthy happy, the Social Democrats rejected every proposal for an increased wealth tax and a billionaire tax. In the final stages of the election, the Social Democratic leadership announced that it was even prepared to withdraw its own proposal for a strictly temporary tax on the ‘excess profits’ of the major banks. In the daily paper Dagens Industri, Mikael Damberg, the Social Democrats’ economic policy spokesperson, wrote that the bank tax might not be necessary. “He seems to be suggesting that if the banks are nice and perform a little worse, they’ll be spared the tax,” wrote the liberal paper Sydsvenskan in an ironic but true commentary under the headline “The Social Democrats are running on flat tyres – they don’t want anything”. The lack of political commitments was part of the Social Democratic leadership’s effort to play down expectations of what a change of government would entail.
Whichever government is formed will have to govern in a world that has only become more dangerous and conflict-ridden since the 2022 election.
It won’t be long before the new government’s honeymoon period is over.
Nor can the new government expect any tailwind from a continuing economic upturn. Indeed, there are strong indications that the increased economic growth seen in the second quarter of this year – when the Swedish economy, measured in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), grew by 3.3 per cent year-on-year – will not prove sustainable. However, this growth was not been reflected in lower unemployment; instead, unemployment today is just as high as it was in January.
As early as this autumn, inflation (price rises) and interest rates may begin to rise, as a result of the global economy being weighed down by debt and the price shocks caused, amongst other things, by the war in the Middle East.
The crisis in the world’s bond markets – rooted in mounting debt mountains and the resulting steady increase in borrowing requirements, as well as inflation and stagnant growth – has pushed interest rates worldwide to their highest level in two decades. These rising interest rates may ultimately be what brings the AI-driven stock market rally to an end.
“A cold shower after the summer. The expected relief failed to materialise. Growing government debt, high energy prices and persistent inflationary concerns are now pushing up European bond yields across the board. According to one analyst, the world has entered a new macroeconomic regime, in which borrowers across the continent will have to get used to higher borrowing costs for the foreseeable future,” commented the economics website Realtid on 11 September. With a slight delay, this provides a picture of what lies ahead here too.
Like previous governments, the new government’s response to the crisis signals being sent by the so-called global markets will take the form of tighter austerity measures. Furthermore, the enormous and growing burdens that military rearmament places on society and the public purse mean that future austerity measures may have an even more severe impact on welfare and ordinary households.
It is a relief that the far right Tidö group lost the election, but the need to build on initiatives taken to forge a left-wing movement alongside the Left Party, and the grassroots resistance that has, for example, taken shape in the struggle against deportations and for a humane migration policy, has not become any less important.
The massive demonstrations held during the election campaign in Stockholm and Gothenburg, calling for genuine climate action, also demonstrates the potential to mobilise people to protest against continued right-wing policies.
By building the struggle now, we can fortify the front against future attacks and broaden the foundations for a new socialist left.