STOCKHOLM, Sept 11, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Sweden's party leaders campaigned on Friday in the final stretch of a close election race that could see either the centre left take back power or the far right enter government for the first time.

While Europe is dominated by right-wing governments, opinion polls in Sweden have for months shown the opposition left-wing bloc holding a strong lead ahead of Sunday's general election, although this has narrowed considerably in the final days of the campaign.

"The most important thing is that the right wing wins, to continue what they have started," pensioner Kurt Flodin, 79, said of Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's outgoing government.

In particular, he wanted Kristersson to continue efforts to curb organised crime that has plagued the country for years, he told AFP forom an upmarket neighbourhood of Stockholm.

The premier made tackling crime one of his top priorities during his four-year term.

For their part, the centre-left Social Democrats -- which governed for the better part of the 20th century and remains Sweden's biggest party -- have pledged to help struggling households pay their bills and bolster the welfare state.

These issues matter to Jenny Larsson, a theatre worker who celebrates her 54th birthday on election day.

She told AFP she was unhappy with politicians "blaming immigration for things that are not caused by immigration" and said she feared the far-right Sweden Democrats would enter government for the first time if the right-wing bloc obtained a majority.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, long viewed as political pariahs, paused shock in the 2022 election when they overtook Kristersson's Moderates Party to become Sweden's second-biggest party, with 20.5 percent of the vote.

Kristersson broke the long-standing taboo by making an unprecedented deal with the extreme-right party so his minority coalition could form a government.

He gave the Sweden Democrats significant influence over government policy -- in particular on crime and immigration -- in exchange for the far-right's support in parliament.

Kristersson has now gone further, promising the Sweden Democrats cabinet posts if he is re-elected, encouraging the far-right leader Jimmie Akesson to demand no fewer than 12 to 14 portfolios.

- Russia concerns -

The latest Indikator opinion poll published on Friday credited the four opposition parties -- the Social Democrats, Greens, Centre and Left -- with 50.8 percent of voter support.

The right-wing bloc -- comprising Kristersson's Moderates, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals -- garnered 47.6 percent.

Party leaders took part in a flurry of televised debates in the final days of campaigning.

"Fewer and fewer Swedes are able to realise their dream of owning their own home. Life has become too expensive," Social Democrats leader and ex-prime minister Magdalena Andersson told a debate on Thursday.

"We've had four years of rising unemployment, with a salary that pays for less and less when everything has got more expensive," she said.

Kristersson fired back that "two normal salaries should be enough to buy a small house", saying people needed "economic growth and tax incentives" so they could save for their first deposit.

The debate focused on Sweden's housing shortage, plummeting education scores, jobs, the climate and security.

Fearful of deteriorating security in Europe following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden has been massively rearming and boosting its civil preparedness.

So the far-right's reported ties to Russia caused a stir in the final run-up to the vote.

Extremism watchdog Expo revealed that a Sweden Democrat civil servant in parliament had shared pro-Russian propaganda for years.

"On Monday, we could wake to a government where the keys to the defence ministry will be handed over to the Sweden Democrats. And that is a party that has been revealed to be infiltrated by friends of Putin," Andersson warned in Thursday's debate.

"Don't take that risk," she urged voters.

While the four opposition parties hold a slim lead, they are splintered ideologically and thorny negotiations would be needed to form a government even if they hold a majority.