Politics in Sweden

Sweden is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with King Carl XVI Gustaf as head of state. His role is purely ceremonial. The parliament is called the Riksdag. It has 349 members and is elected every four years, most recently on 13 September 2026. Eight parties are currently represented in the Riksdag: the Social Democrats, the Moderates, the Sweden Democrats, the Left Party, the Centre Party, the Christian Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals. The 2026 election ended in a narrow win for the centre-left bloc, and the outgoing government under Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced its resignation. At the time of writing, the make-up of the new government is still open.

Sweden is divided into 21 counties (län). As in Finland, ministers can only steer the executive indirectly (the East Nordic model of administration). That task is carried out by independent central government agencies.

There is also local self-government, which is divided into two levels: regions and municipalities. The municipalities are responsible for education, care of the elderly and similar services, while the regions handle broader areas such as healthcare and public transport. Sweden’s freedom of information is also noteworthy: any citizen can inspect official documents without giving a reason or showing ID. To represent citizens’ interests in dealings with the authorities, there are ombudsmen, each specialising in a particular field.

For a long time, the country was seen as a model of social democracy, although this changed with the reforms of the 1990s. In 2003, a referendum was held on adopting the euro, overshadowed by the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. Voters rejected it.

In foreign policy, Sweden turned away from neutrality after Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022: having applied in May 2022, the country became a member of NATO on 7 March 2024. Sweden has been a member of the EU since 1995.