Sweden
The story
Sweden's postwar five-party system was among the world's most stable, with the Social Democrats dominating the post-war period, while no new party entered parliament between 1936 and 1988. The Communist Party of Sweden (SKP), founded in a split from the Social Democrats in 1917, stayed loyal to Moscow after the war, changing course only after 1964. It became the Left Party Communists (VPK), renamed itself the Left Party (V) in 1990 and formally abandoned communism in 1993 — today a socialist, feminist party, still debated by scholars as "borderline left populist," which has never joined government but repeatedly given confidence-and-supply to Social Democrats.
1988–2010 · From skinhead fringe to parliament
The Sweden Democrats (SD), founded in 1988 by figures with backgrounds in 1970s–80s far-right and skinhead movements, spent over a decade at the margins before a 2000s moderation drive — purging openly racist and antisemitic elements — that triggered its own splinters, none successful. SD's first parliamentary breakthrough came in 2010 with 5.6 percent; a year later it formally added social conservatism to its nationalist core.
2014–2022 · Nine elections of growth, then the Tidö Agreement
By 2022, SD had increased its vote share in nine consecutive elections, with the 2015 refugee crisis accelerating its rise. The breakthrough came after 2022: formal talks with the Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats produced the Tidö Agreement, giving SD major influence — chiefly over criminal and migration policy — without ministerial posts. SD has since moderated considerably: no longer pushing "Swexit," no longer opposed to NATO, and now supporting Sweden's liberal abortion law and same-sex couples' equal treatment, positions it once opposed outright. It remains anti-liberal on minority rights, independent media, and international conventions, and several members have voiced admiration for the political direction of Hungary or Poland — though there is limited evidence that SD sought comparable institutional reforms under the Tidö Agreement.
In the 2026 election SD fell from 20.5% to 17.5%, its first decline in a general election, lost second place to the Moderates, and the Tidö parties lost their majority.
Until the 2018 election, all other parliamentary parties kept a cordon sanitaire against SD before finally breaking.
2014-2026 · THE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS MODERATE
The Sweden Democrats (SD) have moderated over time: they no longer demand EU withdrawal, though they remain strongly eurosceptic, and they dropped their NATO opposition before 2022. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, SD became one of Europe’s most pro-Ukrainian national-conservative parties, distancing itself from Russia-friendly radical-right groups while staying sympathetic to Trump. It is socially conservative but relatively moderate, supports liberal abortion law and same-sex equality, and has moved towards the centre-right economically. Regarded as democratic but anti-liberal, it questions minority rights and judicial independence. It sits in the ECR and lost vote share in 2024.
EP elections
SD first won EP seats in 2014, joined the EFDD group in 2014 and moved to ECR in 2018. In 2024, it lost vote share but kept its three seats. V has sat in the GUE group since Sweden joined the EU in 1995.
V
Left Party
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low
SD
Sweden Democrats
- Economics Centre
- Social issues Moderate
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low