In Sweden, many breathe sigh of relief as far right suffers election losses

The election is tight, but one result is clear: the Sweden Democrats’ bid to turn hate into votes failed.

Sumeyah Ali, pictured, says young people in her multicultural neighbourhood are protesting with their vote [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Stockholm, Sweden – Jimmie Akesson, leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), cast his early ballot in Rinkeby, a Stockholm suburb where most residents have a minority background.

“It was a political stunt,” said 18-year-old Sumeyah Ali. “It was meant to provoke.”

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After voting, Akesson told reporters Rinkeby “doesn’t look like Sweden … Sweden shouldn’t look like this, I think.”

His provocative comments were designed to fuel the party’s anti-immigration and Islamophobic rhetoric, said Ali at an office space for Jarva i samverkan, a Stockholm-based network of local nonprofits that coordinates free activities and youth programmes.

But his apparent bid failed.

Although the overall general election is too close to call , one result is clear: the SD suffered its first-ever decline in a parliamentary election, falling three percentage points to 17.5 percent and slipping from second to third place behind the Moderate Party.

The party, which has neo-Nazi roots, has repeatedly targeted Islam.

In 2023, Akesson called for a halt to new mosques and said Sweden should, in the longer term, begin “seizing and demolishing mosques” that spread “anti-democratic, anti-Swedish” propaganda, a proposal rejected by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Akesson has said he targets Islamism, not Muslims, but senior SD MP Richard Jomshof abandoned that distinction during the campaign.

When asked by the newspaper Dagens Nyheter in August what message he had for Muslims living peacefully in Sweden, he replied: “They can stop being Muslims, for a start.”

Jimmie Akesson (L) shakes hands at a polling station in Rinkeby, Sweden, on September 12, 2026 [Claudio Bresciani/TT via AFP]

Zack*, a 27-year-old resident, told Al Jazeera that many have grown thicker skin in response to the SD, which has also proposed banning the hijab and intimidated people with posters reading “We make Sweden, Sweden again”.

“It was rage-bait, but it didn’t work,” said Sara, a 25-year-old business owner.

She recalled when Rasmus Paludan, the Danish-Swedish far-right politician, burned a Quran in Rinkeby Square in 2022. Riots, as well as peaceful protests , took over several Swedish cities.

“It was chaos then, but people know now we can’t be provoked, as that is what they [the far right] want,” she said.

In the end, there was no response to Akesson’s visit. He enjoyed a seamless visit, reportedly welcomed by a young boy who held the door open and later shook hands with a poll clerk.

For the SD, once considered a political pariah, this election signalled an opportunity to capitalise on two decades of steady growth and enter government with the right-wing bloc that includes the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.

By the early hours of Monday, preliminary results gave Sweden’s centre-left opposition bloc a razor-thin lead of 176 seats to 173 over Kristersson’s right-wing alliance. But the numbers settled little; some votes are still to be counted on Wednesday, and the final results are not expected for several days.

With a margin of just three seats, even a small shift could change the outcome, and even with a majority, the opposition’s four parties would still have to agree on a government.

Analysts warned of a deadlock that could drag on for weeks and possibly end in a snap election.

Young people feel ‘their vote will count’

Voter turnout largely rose in multicultural areas like Rinkeby, but fell across the country overall. With little margin between the blocs, every vote counts.

“Before, young people felt like their vote didn’t matter, but now they feel their vote will count for a united society; even their parents are telling their kids to go and vote,” said Ali.

Sweden’s public broadcaster published a poll showing that voters with a non-European background favour the left bloc, with the Left Party , sitting at the opposite end of the political spectrum to SD, rising from 17 percent of the vote in 2022 to 21 percent this year.

In Rinkeby central, preliminary results show more than half of voters backed the Left Party.

One stop away on the underground is Tensta, an area equally maligned by right-wing politicians; 54.35 percent of voters backed the Left Party, with only six votes for SD despite the party placing a poster in the central square.

A poster for the Left Party (L) and the Sweden Democrats (R) stand side by side in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

Ali believes the SD election campaign was driven by an “Americanisation” of Swedish politics, where politicians try to emulate United States President Donald Trump’s divisive politics.

In Stockholm’s central station, SD spent about $100,000 on a weeklong summer campaign that included posters that read: “If you commit crimes, live off benefits, don’t learn Swedish or misbehave, you’re not welcome.”

In Skaraborg, western Sweden, SD bus advertisements asking “Missing Mogadishu?” and promoting a grant to help migrants return home were pulled by the transport operator in August after about 20 drivers of Somali heritage called in sick in protest.

Ali remains optimistic as many Swedes embrace diversity and several initiatives are working to reduce segregation.

Stockholm City has launched Fokus Jarva, a project that aims to close the gap in conditions between the district and the rest of the city, with plans for some 15,000 new homes alongside upgrades to schools, services, jobs, safety and public spaces.

Ali suggested that Akesson should look beyond Rinkeby’s beige and grey housing blocks to see its vibrant, diverse and supportive community.

“In the end, that’s what makes a place, however it looks,” she said.

*Some interviewees asked that their surnames be withheld because of the political nature of the interviews.

Signs celebrating Tensta’s diversity in many languages, including Arabic, Turkish and Hebrew, line the underground station [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]

选举形势胶着，但有一点结果很明确：瑞典民主党试图将仇恨转化为选票的努力失败了。

如图所示，苏梅亚·阿里表示，她所在的多元文化社区的年轻人正在用选票进行抗议。[尼尔斯·阿德勒/半岛电视台]

瑞典斯德哥尔摩——极右翼瑞典民主党（SD）领导人吉米·阿克松在斯德哥尔摩郊区林克比提前投票，该地居民大多具有少数族裔背景。

“这是一场政治噱头，”18岁的苏梅亚·阿里说。“目的是为了挑衅。”

列表 1/3 “我永远不够瑞典”：极右翼运动激怒少数族裔群体

列表 2/3：瑞典即将举行大选，以色列和巴勒斯坦政策成为选票上的议题。

列表 3/3：多元文化的马尔默：瑞典城市马尔默，虽遭极右翼憎恨，但正为选举做准备

投票结束后，阿克松告诉记者，林克比“看起来不像瑞典……我认为瑞典不应该是这个样子。”

阿里在斯德哥尔摩当地非营利组织网络 Jarva i samverkan 的办公室里表示，他的挑衅性言论旨在煽动该党的反移民和仇视伊斯兰教的言论。该组织负责协调免费活动和青年项目。

但他的尝试显然失败了。

尽管大选整体结果难以预测，但有一点很明确：社会民主党在议会选举中遭遇了有史以来的首次失败，支持率下降了3个百分点，至17.5%，从第二名滑落至第三名，落后于温和党。

该党有着新纳粹主义背景，并多次将伊斯兰教作为攻击目标。

2023 年，阿克松呼吁停止新建清真寺，并表示从长远来看，瑞典应该开始“查封和拆除”传播“反民主、反瑞典”宣传的清真寺，这一提议遭到首相乌尔夫·克里斯特松的拒绝。

阿克松曾表示，他的目标是伊斯兰主义，而不是穆斯林，但资深SD议员理查德·约姆肖夫在竞选期间放弃了这种区分。

今年 8 月，当《每日新闻报》问他想对在瑞典和平生活的穆斯林说些什么时，他回答说：“首先，他们可以不再信奉伊斯兰教。”

2026年9月12日，吉米·阿克松（左）在瑞典林克比的一个投票站与选民握手。[克劳迪奥·布雷西亚尼/TT via AFP]

27 岁的居民 Zack* 告诉半岛电视台，许多人因为瑞典民主党（SD）而变得更加麻木，该党还提议禁止佩戴头巾，并用写着“我们要让瑞典再次成为瑞典”的海报恐吓民众。

“这是在煽动愤怒，但并没有奏效，”25岁的企业主萨拉说道。

她回忆起2022年丹麦-瑞典极右翼政客拉斯穆斯·帕鲁丹在林克比广场焚烧《古兰经》的事件。骚乱以及和平抗议席卷了瑞典的几个城市。

“当时一片混乱，但现在人们知道我们不能被激怒，因为这正是他们（极右翼分子）想要看到的，”她说。

最终，阿克森的访问没有得到任何回应。据报道，他的访问进行得非常顺利，一位小男孩为他开门迎接，之后他还与一位投票站工作人员握手。

对于一度被视为政治弃儿的社会民主党而言，这次选举标志着一个利用二十年来稳步增长的机会，并与包括温和党、基督教民主党和自由党在内的右翼联盟一起进入政府。

截至周一凌晨，初步计票结果显示，瑞典中左翼反对派联盟以176席对173席的微弱优势领先于克里斯特松领导的右翼联盟。但最终结果尚未确定；部分选票将于周三继续清点，最终结果预计还要几天才能公布。

由于双方仅相差三个席位，即使是微小的变化也可能改变结果；即使获得多数席位，反对党的四个政党仍然需要就组建政府达成一致。

分析人士警告称，僵局可能会持续数周，并可能导致提前举行大选。

年轻人觉得“他们的选票会起作用”。

在像林克比这样的多元文化地区，投票率普遍上升，但全国整体投票率却有所下降。由于各选民群体之间的差距很小，每一张选票都至关重要。

“以前，年轻人觉得自己的选票无关紧要，但现在他们觉得自己的选票对社会团结至关重要；甚至他们的父母也告诉孩子们要去投票，”阿里说。

瑞典公共广播公司公布的一项民意调查显示，非欧洲背景的选民倾向于左翼阵营，左翼党（与瑞典民主党处于政治光谱的另一端）的得票率从 2022 年的 17% 上升至今年的 21%。

初步结果显示，在林克比中心选区，超过半数的选民支持左翼党。

乘坐地铁一站即可到达滕斯塔，该地区同样受到右翼政客的诋毁；54.35% 的选民支持左翼党，而社会民主党（SD）尽管在中心广场张贴了海报，却只获得了 6 张选票。

在斯德哥尔摩郊区滕斯塔，左翼党（左）和瑞典民主党（右）的海报并排摆放。[尼尔斯·阿德勒/半岛电视台]

阿里认为，瑞典民主党的选举活动是由瑞典政治的“美国化”所驱动的，瑞典政客试图效仿美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的分裂性政治。

在斯德哥尔摩中央车站，瑞典国家铁路公司（SD）花费了约 10 万美元开展为期一周的夏季宣传活动，其中包括张贴海报，上面写着：“如果你犯罪、靠福利生活、不学习瑞典语或行为不端，我们不欢迎你。”

在瑞典西部城市斯卡拉堡，SD巴士公司在8月份撤下了“想念摩加迪沙吗？”的广告，并宣传一项帮助移民返回家园的补助金。此前，约有20名索马里裔司机请病假以示抗议。

阿里仍然保持乐观，因为许多瑞典人拥抱多元化，而且一些举措正在努力减少种族隔离。

斯德哥尔摩市启动了 Fokus Jarva 项目，旨在缩小该地区与城市其他地区之间的差距，计划建造约 15,000 套新住房，同时升级学校、服务、就业、安全和公共空间。

阿里建议阿克森应该超越林克比米色和灰色的住宅楼，去了解它充满活力、多元化和互助的社区。

“归根结底，无论一个地方看起来如何，这才是决定它本质的关键所在，”她说。

*由于采访内容涉及政治，部分受访者要求隐去姓氏。

滕斯塔地铁站内，用阿拉伯语、土耳其语和希伯来语等多种语言书写的标语，庆祝着这座城市的多元性。[尼尔斯·阿德勒/半岛电视台]