Swedes head to polls in close-run election marked by crime, energy crisis

The Swedes voted on Sunday (11 September) in an election that pitted the incumbent centre-left Social Democrats against a bloc that supports the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, in a bid for power recovery after eight years of opposition.

Campaigning is becoming more difficult as the unnerving number of shootings continues to grow. Parties are now battling to be toughest on gang crimes, while inflation and the energy crisis that accompanied the invasion of Ukraine have become increasingly prominent.

Law and order are the home turf of the right. However, rising economic storm clouds, as households and businesses face sky-high power costs, may boost Social Democratic Prime minister Magdalena Andersson. This is because she is seen as a trusted pair of hands and more popular that her party.

"My message was clear: during the pandemic, we supported Swedish households and companies. She said this week during one of the last debates before the vote that she would act exactly the same way again if she received your renewed confidence.

Andersson served as Sweden's finance minister for many decades before she became the first woman prime minister of Sweden. Ulf Kristersson (Moderates leader) is her main rival. He sees himself as being the only one who can unify the right and unseat Andersson.

Kristersson spent many years strengthening ties with Sweden Democrats, an antiimmigration party that had white supremacist founders. The Sweden Democrats were initially shunned from all other parties but are now part of the mainstream right.

Kristersson stated in a video that his party posted: "We will prioritize law & order, making it profitable work and building new climate-smart nukes power," Simply put, we want Sweden to be sorted out.

Opinion polls show that the centre-left is running neck-and–neck with the right-wing bloc. The Sweden Democrats appear to have just overtaken Moderates as second largest party behind the Social Democrats.

Many centre-left voters, as well as some right-leaning voters, are deeply disturbed by the possibility of Jimmie Akesson's Sweden Democrats influencing government policy and joining the cabinet. The election is seen partly in a referendum on whether or not to grant them this power.

Kristersson would like to form a government together with the small Christian Democrats, possibly the Liberals, and rely only on the support of the Sweden Democrat in parliament. These are not assurances that the centre-left takes at face value.

The election is characterized by uncertainty, as both the blocs are expected to engage in long and difficult negotiations to form a government within a politically charged and polarised environment.

If she is to be reelected as prime minister, Andersson will need support from the Centre Party, the Left and possibly the Green Party.

Annie Loof, whose Centre Party split from Kristersson over Kristersson's embrace of the Sweden Democrats said: "I have pretty little red lines." In a recent interview with SVT, Loof stated that she has very few.

"One red line that I have is that I won't allow a government to give the Sweden Democrats influence."