Ulf Kristersson Resigns After Left-Wing Bloc Wins Sweden Election

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced his resignation on Thursday after final vote counts from the September 13 general election confirmed a narrow victory for the center-left opposition. The left-wing bloc, comprising the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Greens, and the Centre Party, secured 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, while the right-wing alliance took 173 seats.

Magdalena Andersson, leader of the Social Democrats, is positioned to return as prime minister. While the Social Democrats remained the largest single party with 99 seats, they experienced a significant decline, earning only 28 percent of the vote. Andersson stated that the Swedish people have voted for a "new direction for our country, voted for cohesion and against division."

The far-right Sweden Democrats saw their first decline in support since 2010, dropping to third place with 62 seats and 17.5 percent of the vote. Party leaders attributed the loss to controversial assimilation policies, while the Sweden Democrats claimed that citizenship grants to approximately 200,000 foreigners swung the result to the left.

Andersson now faces difficult negotiations to form a government due to ideological divisions within her bloc. Specifically, the liberal Centre Party opposes granting cabinet posts to the socialist Left Party. Despite the shift in power, there remains a broad consensus regarding Sweden's membership in NATO and its continued support for Ukraine.