According to initial forecasts, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats will remain the strongest political force in Sweden. However, after the parliamentary elections on Sunday evening, it was initially not clear which political camp would be able to rely on a majority in the Reichstag in Stockholm in the future.
In Sweden, two political camps, which are almost equal in the polls, are fighting for power in the government. In the Reichstag election on Sunday, the polling stations should be open until the evening (8 p.m.) before the first forecasts and partial results are expected.
For the social democrat Magdalena Andersson, it is about remaining in power after less than a year as prime minister. The head of the conservative moderates, Ulf Kristersson, hopes to replace them at the head of government – on the way there he also showed himself willing to count on the support of the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats, who, according to polls, are heading for a record result of over 20 percent could. After the election, another complicated government formation is expected.
Andersson was only elected Prime Minister of Sweden in November 2021, succeeding her party colleague Stefan Löfven and becoming the first woman ever. She was finance minister for seven years under Löfven and heads an all-Social Democrat minority government that relies on the support of the liberal Center Party, the Left and the Greens in the Reichstag. Under her aegis, the Scandinavian EU country, like its neighbor Finland, applied for NATO membership in mid-May in the course of the Ukraine war.
The Center Party had migrated to the left-wing camp because the other conservative parties had increasingly converged with the right-wing populists. Kristersson’s moderates now threaten to lose their place as the second strongest party to the Sweden Democrats. The conservative-right alliance could manage to achieve a parliamentary majority together. They currently have 174 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag in Stockholm – 175 are needed for a majority. Polls saw the two camps almost level ahead of Election Day, with Andersson’s bloc marginally ahead.
