But victory would be a major relief for the Social Democrat leader and her political allies in other parties on the left of Swedish politics. Andersson was thrown out of office in an election four years ago, and spent the intervening period leading the opposition.
For months, her bloc — which includes the Left Party, with its communist roots, as well as the Greens — had enjoyed a comfortable advantage in the polls. But that lead narrowed dramatically in the last two weeks of the campaign, with one poll on the eve of the vote putting the two rival blocs in a dead heat.
Kristersson’s allies on the right may be left wondering whether he made a mistake in seeking to collaborate so closely with such controversial partners in the far-right Sweden Democrats and their leader Jimmie Åkesson.
The PM told POLITICO he trusted Åkesson because the two had worked well together for four years, with the Sweden Democrats supporting the government in parliament without having ministers formally in the cabinet. Kristersson and Åkesson tried to persuade voters they deserved another term to finish the work they started — especially bringing down violent crime and reducing immigration.
But Andersson argued that many voters had balked at moves by the Kristersson government to expel young people from the country who had attended Swedish schools, spoke the language fluently and made their lives in Sweden. “People think that’s stupid and inhumane,” she told POLITICO on Sunday.
It didn’t help Kristersson’s cause that his side was forced to fight claims of Russian infiltration in the final days of the campaign. In an earlier interview with POLITICO, Andersson demanded that Kristersson come clean about allegations that the partner of a senior Sweden Democrats official had promoted pro-Russian narratives and linked up with a Russian state group.
