Sweden's PM resigns as centre-left bloc wins narrow election victory

Ulf Kristersson stepped down as Sweden's prime minister on Thursday, handing the keys to Magdalena Andersson and the centre-left opposition after a weekend election that split the country almost evenly in half. The preliminary count was finally complete: 176 seats for the left-leaning bloc against 173 for Kristersson's ruling coalition. The margin was paper-thin—50,359 votes separated the two sides across the entire electorate. Andersson, who had held the office once before, between November 2021 and October 2022, now faces the task of assembling a government from parties that disagree on fundamental questions of tax policy, energy, and how to handle the wealthy.

In her victory speech, Andersson spoke of the people voting "for a new direction for our country, voted for unity and against division." She named her immediate priorities: climate, schools, healthcare, elderly care, and immigration. The words were measured, almost cautious—a recognition that winning the election was the easier part. Kristersson's resignation letter was brief and formal. He wrote that the election had created a "complicated situation" for government formation and called for "constructive openness" from all parties. The speaker of parliament, Andreas Norlén, would now begin the work of shepherding talks toward a new prime minister.

One surprise softened the blow for those who had feared the election would mark a rightward turn: the Sweden Democrats, the far-right party that had been Sweden's second-largest, lost support for the first time in a general election since its founding. They fell to third place. Before the vote, Kristersson had promised them key ministerial posts if his coalition won, a move that had alarmed many observers. Instead, the electorate moved the other direction.

But Andersson's path forward is treacherous. She has invited the Left, Centre, and Green parties into coalition talks, yet these parties hold incompatible positions on several crucial matters. The Centre party has explicitly ruled out governing alongside the Left, while the Left has demanded a seat at the table in exchange for its support. The Greens oppose nuclear energy. The Left wants a billionaire tax. The Greens, Social Democrats, and Left all favor raising taxes; the Centre wants to cut them. These are not minor disagreements to be smoothed over with rhetoric. They are structural conflicts that will require real concessions from someone.

Andersson's own party, the Social Democrats, remains Sweden's largest, but they received historically low support in this election—a fact that underscores how fractured Swedish politics has become. The result is a government that will likely be either a fragile coalition or a minority administration that depends on the goodwill of parties it does not formally include. Swedish tradition permits both arrangements. The previous government under Kristersson had not formally included the Sweden Democrats, yet they wielded considerable influence over the budget and policy direction.

The Social Democrats have already begun preparing for these negotiations, using the days since Sunday's vote to map out strategy. They are understood to be seeking broad cooperation with one or multiple parties, rather than a single coalition partner. Their stated intention is to reverse the immigration, integration, and climate policies of the outgoing government. Yet Andersson's party has itself moved rightward in recent years, particularly on immigration and crime, which means much of what Kristersson built may survive the transition.

Nooshi Dadgostar, leader of the Left party, called the result "one of the proudest days of my life." Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist of the Centre party thanked Kristersson for his service but said Sweden was "entering a new political phase." At Social Democrats headquarters, four celebration cakes decorated with red roses were carried in to cheers. The victory was real, but everyone understood it was also incomplete. The hard work—weeks of negotiation, compromise, and the careful construction of a government that could actually govern—was only beginning.