Sweden is heading to the polls with immigration, national identity and the country’s changing social landscape at the heart of the campaign. A victory for the center-right could bring the Sweden Democrats into government for the first time, despite the party’s neo-Nazi roots.
In the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, the Folkets Hus offers a striking picture of the Sweden that was built around welfare, public services and integration.
The former People’s House contains a library, employment center, health services and rooms used by local associations. Built in brick and clinker and surrounded by public housing constructed under the Miljonprogrammet, a large-scale social housing initiative launched in the 1960s, the building was inaugurated in 1986, just days before the death of former Prime Minister Olof Palme.
Rinkeby is also one of the clearest examples of Sweden’s long history of immigration. Around 89% of its residents have foreign backgrounds, yet Swedish is widely spoken. The local variety known as “Rinkeby Swedish” has been studied by linguists for its mixture of Swedish with words and influences from languages brought by communities from Iraq, Lebanon and the Balkans.
But when Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, arrived at the Folkets Hus on Saturday morning to cast his early vote, he was not celebrating that multicultural history.
Åkesson, who has built his campaign around the slogan “Make Sweden Sweden Again,” styled after Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” handed his ballot to a Black election worker before turning to reporters.
“Sweden should not be like it is here,” he said. “This place is not Sweden.”
Asked what the “right” Sweden should look like, Åkesson criticized Rinkeby’s architecture, describing it as discouraging and suggesting that the type of housing found there was what social services wanted to introduce into more affluent residential areas elsewhere in the country.
He then turned to the people living in the neighborhood, referring to those wearing religious clothing and saying that some of the values they represented had no place in Sweden. His comments appeared to be a reference to the hijab.
The scene was particularly striking because many of the journalists, election workers and volunteers around him appeared to have immigrant backgrounds.
Åkesson’s remarks have come to symbolize a campaign in which the Sweden Democrats have played a central role in shaping the political debate, particularly on immigration. Polls put support for the far-right party at around 17-18%, while other parties have increasingly hardened their positions on migration in response.
Swedes vote today, with the election still too close to call.
After weeks of holding a noticeable lead, the center-left bloc led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson is now ahead of the rival coalition by no more than two percentage points. If the right-wing bloc wins and incumbent Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson remains in office, the Sweden Democrats would enter government for the first time.
Until now, the party has supported the government from outside because of its extremist past. The Sweden Democrats have deep roots in the neo-Nazi movement, although Åkesson has repeatedly rejected that legacy. Their influence has nevertheless helped reshape Sweden’s immigration policies under Kristersson, whose government has overseen some of the country’s toughest migration measures, including the deportation of very young children.
For immigrants living in Sweden, the increasingly hostile political rhetoric has become personal.
“We are increasingly being talked about as if we were things,” said A., a 36-year-old school psychologist who moved to Sweden from Iran in 2006.
She said conversations with friends increasingly turn toward “immigrants,” even when those speaking are addressing people like her.
“I get angry and say: you realize you are talking about me,” she said. “And they say, ‘But you have nothing to do with it. You have a degree, you speak Swedish.’”
For her, that distinction is part of the problem. If she had been illiterate or poorer, she said, people might have considered her a different kind of immigrant — someone who should have remained in a war zone rather than being welcomed in Sweden.
“It is as if we are no longer human beings,” she said.
Analysts say part of the Sweden Democrats’ success comes from a political communication strategy that is deliberately simple, accessible and easy to remember. The approach may also help the party reach voters who might otherwise stay away from the polls.
Åkesson himself presents a relatively approachable image. He has led the party since 2005 and has credited his political longevity partly to patience and what he has described as foresight in removing factions with close ties to neo-Nazi organizations, including the Swedish Reich Party.
But nostalgia is another important part of the party’s appeal.
“The idea of the Sweden of the past is everywhere in the Sweden Democrats’ political message,” said Bengt Johansson, a professor of journalism and political communication at the University of Gothenburg.
The party, he said, is attempting to claim ownership of values associated with Sweden’s former Social Democratic era, particularly the welfare state.
That nostalgia is also visible in the party’s campaign aesthetics. Its posters use retro fonts and visual elements reminiscent of the 1970s, while the tone is deliberately playful and friendly.
The party has also introduced a new version of its symbol. Its traditional blue-and-yellow flower now appears alongside a smiling little bee.
The contrast with the party’s political messaging is striking.
“The entire campaign has a soft and friendly tone,” Johansson said. “But then you compare that with their messages, particularly about migrants. There are posters saying that the Social Democrats are turning Sweden into something else, followed by text in Arabic. These are very strong messages, and they clash with the friendly style of the campaign.”
The strategy appears to have generated considerable attention. Whether that attention will translate into votes is another question.
The Sweden Democrats have not reached the 20% support that some expectations once suggested. Current polls put them closer to 17-18%.
“They have a lot of attention, but I don’t know how much real support they have,” Johansson said. “Like Donald Trump, they are able to set the agenda for the political debate. But that does not necessarily mean they can reach 20 or 30 percent.”
The election will ultimately determine whether the party’s carefully constructed combination of nostalgia, accessible messaging and hard-line positions on immigration has succeeded in turning visibility into electoral power.
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