The story

Swedes voted on Sunday in an election that showed a dead heat between Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's center-right coalition and a center-left bloc led by former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. Based on votes from 4,853 of Sweden's 6,312 election districts, the center-left bloc was expected to win 175 seats in the 349-seat parliament, while the right-wing governing bloc was seen winning 174 seats. Given the closeness of the race, the winner may not be known for several days, after all overseas ballots have been counted.

The election became dominated by questions about which parties will form a government, with Kristersson promising to give the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party with far-right roots, cabinet positions for the first time if the right wins. The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis, but have moved toward the political mainstream under leader Jimmie Åkesson. In 2022, the party took 20.5% of the vote to become the biggest party on the right, and recent polls put them at around 19%.

Gun violence has dropped sharply under Kristersson's government, which took power in 2022 when Sweden was experiencing 391 shootings resulting in 62 deaths. Asylum numbers have dropped to a 40-year low after the government abolished permanent residency for refugees and tightened welfare rules. Top Swedish companies like Volvo, IKEA and Spotify remain global powerhouses, helping the economy grow faster than most places in Europe.