STOCKHOLM, Sept 8, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Sweden votes Sunday in a general election, with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats and far-right leader Jimmie Akesson the three main candidates.

- Kristersson: gamble with far right -

The 62-year-old former gymnast became prime minister in 2022 after his right-wing coalition reached a deal giving the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats influence over government policy in exchange for their support.

"He has a unifying presence on the right. I think people see him as a reliable candidate for prime minister," Stockholm University political scientist Jan Teorell told AFP.

While the arrangement with the far right secured power for Kristersson's Moderate Party, it has also hurt them in opinion polls, Teorell said, noting that it began losing voter support after just a few months.

Kristersson had previously vowed never to negotiate with the Sweden Democrats.

A Tintin fan with a degree in economics, Kristersson has as prime minister overseen increased defence spending, strict migration policies and a crackdown on organised crime.

He has also been embroiled in several scandals, including scrutiny over a foundation run by his wife, Lutheran priest Birgitta Ed, and the hiring of a childhood friend to serve as national security advisor.

Born in the southern Swedish city of Lund in 1963, Kristersson entered politics as a teen, taking over the Moderates youth wing a few years later.

Considered a skilled debater, he became party leader in 2017.

- Jimmie Akesson: pariah to heavyweight -

As leader of the Sweden Democrats for more than 20 years, Jimmie Akesson has transformed the far-right party with neo-Nazi roots from a political pariah to heavyweight contender whose support is key for the right wing to secure power.

Since 2022, when the minority right-wing government has ruled with the far right's support, Akesson has succeeded in imposing his hardline policies on migration and crime.

The party entered parliament in 2010 and now has around 20 percent of voter support.

With immigration drastically reduced, the far right's focus is now on "re-migration", or incentivising immigrants to leave Sweden.

Born in Solvesborg, a town of 9,000 inhabitants in southern Sweden, Akesson, 47, is from a middle-class family with an entrepreneur father and a nursing assistant mother, part of the "average Swede" image he is keen to cultivate.

A fan of rock music and "pizza with fries", he has worked hard to normalise the far right.

In late June 2025, the party released a lengthy report on its origins, detailing its past ties with fascist and Nazi organisations and members' xenophobic and antisemitic views.

Akesson apologised on behalf of the party, though he still promotes nationalist ideology. In March, he said in an interview with broadcaster SVT that a practising Muslim in Sweden could not be Swedish.

In another SVT interview last month, he said he wanted to "restore order to Sweden's demography".

Akesson has set his sights set on the post of prime minister in 2030.

- Magdalena Andersson: former PM -

Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, who in 2021-2022 was the first woman to serve as Swedish prime minister, is a hard-nosed technocrat schooled in finance with a reputation for being impatient, blunt and frugal.

The 59-year-old is hoping to oust Kristersson with pledges to strengthen the country's welfare state.

She has led the Social Democrats since November 2021, when she took over the party leadership from Stefan Lofven.

Her no-nonsense and pragmatic attitude appeals to many Swedes, according to political scientist Teorell.

While she is nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for her direct manner, "she has a way of speaking that many people feel they can trust," Teorell told AFP.

"There are similarities to (former German chancellor Angela) Merkel. I think Merkel has been a bit of a role model for her."

Andersson served as finance minister for seven years before becoming prime minister.

In 10 months, she guided Sweden through a period of turbulent domestic politics, the Covid pandemic and led the charge for the country's historic application to join NATO, before losing the 2022 election to Kristersson.

In this year's election campaign, she has vowed to raise taxes to improve healthcare and the welfare system, ban profits at privately-run, publicly-funded schools, and maintain most of the right-wing government's hardline policies on crime and immigration.

The only daughter of a university professor and a teacher, she studied at the Stockholm School of Economics -- with a brief spell at Harvard -- before immersing herself in the Social Democratic party, having joined its youth league aged 16.

She admits she is "miserly by nature".

"I get more excited about saving money than spending it," she said in a 2026 interview.