How to use your vote wisely in the 2026 Swedish election

It is 17 days left until the election in Sweden, and I have thoughts. I wanted to write something a bit more in-depth, but early voting opened yesterday so I'm prioritizing timeliness instead.

First of all, I urge you to actually go vote. It doesn't take much time, and you get to feel good about having exerted the minimum effort as a citizen of a democracy.
If you do not know who to vote for, 15 minutes spent on SVT's election compass will help inform your decision. If you truly do not wish to vote for any party, casting a blank vote is a more significant action than simply abstaining.

And of course, I have some thoughts of my own about who you should vote for. A recommendation for those who wish for Sweden's guiding pillars during the next four years to be solidarity, equality, and prosperity for ordinary people.

Fine-tuning

The latest polls indicate the Tidö government will fail to reach a majority, even with the continued support of the far-right Sverigedemokraterna. Odds are high that Magdalena Andersson of Socialdemokraterna will be our next prime minister, and their agenda will become the foundation for the next four years of Swedish politics. But while Social Democratic politics are an improvement over what we have now, we need something more if we're going to make real improvements.

The coalition is the key. With S at its core, what matters are which parties they end up forming a government with. This is how the course of Swedish politics will be fine-tuned for the next four years.
Magdalena Andersson has been tight-lipped so far about who she wants to govern with. Centerpartiet are pulling to the right by pushing for a coalition with Kristdemokraterna and Miljöpartiet, but neither party wants to govern with the other.

Cards on the table, I believe it is imperative that both Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet are included in the coalition. Together, they will have the mandates to push for changes that benefit ordinary people.
Both parties want to reduce working hours, eventually moving Sweden towards a 4-day work week, which would give people time for rest, and to enjoy their lives outside of work.
They want to remove karensavdraget (as does S, but not C), so that people are no longer punished financially for being sick (or forced to work when they should be recovering).
They want to tax the rich and reinforce the welfare system that safeguards the right of everyone in Sweden to a decent life.
They want to protect and improve the rights of LGBTQ people, and they want to fight racism.
They want to strengthen workers' rights and influence in their workplace, and they want to promote more democratic forms of business ownership, like worker cooperatives.
They want Sweden to be a country where all people can thrive, not just the wealthy and powerful.

So who should you vote for?

In order to steer the country toward a truly better future, I think you should vote for Vänsterpartiet or Miljöpartiet. Pick whichever one fits your interests more closely; I'll be voting for Miljöpartiet, as I think they place a stronger emphasis on empowering ordinary people (whereas Vänsterpartiet seem to be a bit more centralised in their thinking).

Even if you were planning to vote for Socialdemokraterna, I would urge you to consider shifting your vote left this election. S are basically guaranteed to get the most votes regardless, so using yours to push them further left would be more beneficial.

If you were planning to vote for anything further right than S, I can only assume we don't care about the same things in our politics. Thanks for reading all this way anyway, I guess?

Let's do our part to make Sweden a more democratic, more equal place to live.