Swedish PM Kristersson seeks re-election, eyes far-right in cabinet

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is asking voters for a second term and has signalled a further break with the past: if the right-wing bloc wins Sunday's election, he intends to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into his government for the first time.

The promise caps a striking shift for the 62-year-old Moderate leader. In 2018, he told Holocaust survivor Hedi Fried that his party would never work with the Sweden Democrats, then still treated as a political outcast by much of the Swedish right. Four years later, the party's support in parliament carried him into office at the head of a three-party minority government, and its votes have underpinned his agenda.

That agenda has centred on tighter immigration and crime policies. His government has scrapped permanent residency for asylum seekers and increased deportations. A plan to detain the most violent 13-year-old offenders was dropped in favour of applying the measure to those a year older, while sentencing has been made stiffer and police powers widened.

Kristersson has defended the direction of travel, saying at the launch of his party's manifesto in August that fundamental things in Sweden simply were not working. Asylum numbers have fallen to a 40-year low and shooting deaths are down 75%, according to the government's account of its record.

His path to power was not obvious. When he took over the Moderates in 2017, the centre right was divided over whether to deal with the Sweden Democrats and appeared to have no route back to office. Kristersson, who had advocated open borders as head of the party's youth wing, chose pragmatism over principle and broke the taboo, opening the way to a centre-right victory in 2022 and what has been an unusually stable four years of government.

Supporters credit an unflappable, managerial style that has eased personal frictions within his coalition and helped him move past questions about his judgment in appointing advisers, including one accused of leaving secret documents in a hotel. Jenny Madestam, a political scientist at Sodertorn University, said he talks about being the adult in the room and has largely succeeded in that role.

Critics see a different story. They argue that his pursuit of power risks entrenching the far right's anti-immigration agenda at the centre of Swedish politics and pushing the country further right. Birgitta Ohlsson of the opposition Centre Party, a former EU minister, said she had lived in Donald Trump's United States in recent years and had seen how quickly things can move in the wrong direction.

Polls show the left and right blocs running neck and neck. Even if the right prevails, Kristersson's pragmatism could face a fresh test: the Sweden Democrats may win more votes than the Moderates. Most analysts expect he would carry on as prime minister, but with weakened authority. Marie Demker, professor of political science at Gothenburg University, said the Sweden Democrats would in practice be in control.