Ahead of Sweden’s parliamentary election on Sept. 13, polls show a steady lead for the center-left opposition led by Magdalena Andersson — a rare precedent in Europe, where right-wing forces are gaining ground almost everywhere. Sweden’s left turn has been inspired by the systemic dead end the country found itself in under the leadership of Ulf Kristersson, who was elected in 2022. The attempt to combine market reforms with anti-migration populism produced a recession and a decline in the performance of the healthcare system. As a result, voters are pragmatically returning to the “Nordic model” of social justice. Contents1.Why Swedes voted right2.What the right failed to deliver3.The nation’s reaction to the right’s reforms4.The right-wing government’s economic missteps5.The parliamentary coalition’s troubles6.How to handle the right-wing legacy7.The parliamentary arithmetic of coalitions8.NATO, Russia, and foreign policyWhy Swedes voted rightIn the fall of 2022, Sweden underwent an electoral shift that ended the era of Social Democratic rule traditional for Nordic countries. The right-wing coalition led by Ulf Kristersson came to power on the wave of a security crisis. In 2022, voters were driven less by ideological preference than by a sense of losing control over the familiar course of life.The catalyst for disillusionment with the center-left was an alarming surge in street violence that turned once-quiet Swedish towns into arenas of criminal warfare, waged by gangs of teens recruited by criminal bosses from disadvantaged neighborhoods — minors who can escape criminal prosecution because of their age.Years of neglecting the problems tied to the rise of isolated suburban ghettos and criminal gangs, combined with an outdated and ineffective anti-drug policy, led to a sharp rise in the number of deadly shootouts between rival gangs. For years, the Social Democrats tried to treat this social wound with soft measures and integration programs. The right, by contrast, offered voters a clear and tough answer: they promised to restore law and order through expanded police powers, mass searches, and an increase in the prison population.In the mind of the average citizen, crime was inseparable from failures in the country’s migration policy. Society expects newcomers to assimilate, but instead Sweden has experienced cultural segregation and a significant strain on social funds due to high unemployment among migrants.In this context, the right-wing parties made a historic compromise, lifting the decades-long “cordon sanitaire” — the unspoken ban on forming a coalition with the far-right nationalists of the Sweden Democrats (SD). The united right-wing bloc stated bluntly that the humanitarian superpower could no longer fulfill its mission. The bloc promised to close the borders and restrict immigrants’ rights.The right-wing parties made a historic compromise, lifting the unspoken ban on forming a coalition with far-right nationalists