Sweden Democrats’ election setback could reignite internal factional conflict

The Sweden Democrats’ decline in the 2026 parliamentary election could reopen an internal dispute over the party’s direction, SVT political commentator Mats Knutson says. The party has blamed its participation in the Tidö cooperation, lost votes to smaller parties and efforts by other parties to mobilise Islamist voters.

The setback reportedly caused shock within the party on election night. Images from the Sweden Democrats’ election event showed sparse dance floors and subdued expressions, according to Knutson.

Several party members offered different explanations during the following week. Kent Ekeroth, the party’s leading candidate in Dalarna, said in a criticised interview with P4 Dalarna that Sweden was “bringing in voting stock from abroad”. Sweden Democrat MP Josef Fransson wrote on X: “Congratulations, all mentally disabled small-party voters.” Party figure and MP Tobias Andersson told SVT that some of the party’s supporters may have chosen not to vote.

Party leader Jimmie Åkesson said at a news conference on Thursday that the Sweden Democrats had expected to suffer after four years of cooperation under the Tidö arrangement.

“A potential setback after four years of taking responsibility and making compromises was part of the calculation,” Åkesson said.

He also said that the differences between the four Tidö parties had not always been clear, leaving some voters with the impression that their choice of party made little difference.

Åkesson additionally pointed to voters prioritising other issues, increased debate over deportations and more Sweden Democrat voters choosing parties outside parliament. He also accused the Social Democrats and the Left Party of mobilising Islamist voters, a statement both parties strongly criticised.

Possible internal conflict

Knutson said the result had caused concern within the party, as well as some anonymous criticism of its election campaign.

“It could reactivate a form of factional conflict between those who want the party to develop in a more pragmatic direction and those who want a more radical direction,” he said on SVT’s Aktuellt.

The Sweden Democrats received a preliminary 17.5 per cent of the vote in the parliamentary election, a decline of 3.1 percentage points. It was the party’s first setback in a parliamentary election.

The party also fell from being the second-largest party in the 2022 parliamentary election to the third-largest in 2026.