Sweden is called to the polls this Sunday. And the political suspense is great, as the outcome of the legislative elections is uncertain. The polls actually tightened in the very last days of the campaign.
Will the kingdom witness the return of the left to power or the resounding entry of the far right into government? The verdict will come after 8 p.m., when the polling stations close. While awaiting the results of the vote of eight million voters, 20 Minutes presents the three main candidates.
Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister allied to the far right
With his well-groomed appearance, this 62-year-old former gymnast became Prime Minister in 2022, after having concluded, at the head of his right-wing coalition, an unprecedented agreement with the Sweden Democrats (SD), a far-right party.
If this agreement with the far right allowed the Moderates to come to power, it also cost them in the polls, estimates Jan Teorell, political scientist at Stockholm University. This conservative party thus began to lose the support of voters just a few months after coming to power. For a long time, Ulf Kristersson had promised never to negotiate with the SD but his defeat in 2018 sounded the death knell for his resolutions.
In four years, his mandate at the head of government has been punctuated by scandals without major consequences: from his dubious links with a foundation run by his Lutheran pastor wife, to the appointment of a childhood friend to the post of national security adviser.
Born in 1963 in Lund, Ulf Kristersson dabbled in politics from high school, before leading the youth branch of the Moderates a few years later. A fan of Tintin and a graduate in economics, he is also considered a formidable debater.
Magdalena Andersson, a techno activist for the welfare state
The first woman to govern – very briefly – Sweden between 2021 and 2022, the leader of the social democratic opposition Magdalena Andersson, 59, is an uncompromising technocrat trained in finance. She hopes to oust the Prime Minister, thanks to his promises on strengthening the welfare state. She has led the Social Democrats party since November 2021 after succeeding the head of government Stefan Löfven, who then retired from political life.
During the ten months she was at the head of the country, she went through a period of domestic political turbulence, the Covid 19 pandemic and led Sweden towards its historic candidacy for NATO, before losing the 2022 legislative elections.
His pragmatism appeals to many Swedes, according to Jan Teorell. And if she is nicknamed “the bulldozer” because of her direct style, “she has a way of speaking that inspires confidence in many people”.
Born in Uppsala, a prestigious university town north of Stockholm, this only daughter of an academic and a teacher first distinguished herself in the pools, where she stood out for her determination and ended up Swedish junior swimming champion. She also immersed herself in activism at the age of 16, a commitment she has not renounced since.
Jimmie Åkesson, the nationalist who dreams of government
At the head of the Sweden Democrats for more than twenty years, Jimmie Åkesson has taken this far-right party with neo-Nazi roots from pariah status to that of an essential party for the right. So much so that at 47 years old, he is now aiming for the post of Prime Minister in 2030. Represented in Parliament since 2010, the SD are credited with around 20% of voting intentions.
During this last unprecedented mandate during which the right-wing minority government governed with the support of the SD, Jimmie Åkesson managed to impose his priorities in terms of migration policy and the fight against organized crime. Immigration has been drastically reduced and the emphasis is now on “remigration”.
Coming from the middle class – an entrepreneur father, a caregiver mother – this “normal Swede”, an image he cultivates, was born in Sölvesborg, a town of 9,000 inhabitants. Entering politics as a teenager, this lover of rock and pizza and fries joined the SD in the 1990s and has since worked to polish its image.
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In June 2025, the SD presented a long report commissioned in 2021 on their origin, detailing their links with fascist and Nazi organizations and the xenophobic and anti-Semitic opinions of their members, the opportunity for Jimmie Åkesson to make a mea culpa and apologize on behalf of this party. However, the SD does not hesitate to display its nationalist ideology: in March 2026, their leader declared in an interview with the SVT TV channel that a practicing Muslim in Sweden could not be Swedish at the same time.
