'Mudslinging and nonsense': Ebba Busch hits back at right-wing partners
Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch accused her right-wing allies of subjecting her party to "mudslinging and nonsense" in recent weeks.
Busch took to social media on Thursday, pointing to a polls showing she enjoys the highest voter trust among Sweden's party leaders.
"It means a lot to me, especially coming after weeks of attacks from both Moderate and Sweden Democrat representatives. People have been spreading outright falsehoods about the Christian Democrats in speeches, on social media, and during door-knocking campaigns," she said.
The rift within the so-called Tidö coalition opened up after Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson accused Busch of flirting too heavily with the Social Democrats.
"We will not support Magdalena Andersson or become a sidekick to the Social Democrats," Busch stressed, reiterating that she has no intention of "sulking in a corner" in the event of an election defeat or a national crisis.
"I find it a bit strange that our loyalty is being questioned simply because we put Sweden's best interests first."
Ahead of Thursday evening's party leader debate on TV4, Busch's Tidö colleagues commented on her attack.
"I do no such thing [sling mud]. We cooperate brilliantly, have done so in government for four years, and as party leaders for nine years. I trust Ebba Busch completely," said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
"There is no mud-slinging from our side. I don't know what she is referring to this time," said Åkesson, but added that he still believes Busch is too vague regarding the question of potential government coalitions after the election. "Yes, it's presumably deliberate on her part. That seems to be the strategy the Christian Democrats have used throughout this entire campaign, and it's been very successful for them," he said. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: mudslinging – smutskastning
Swedish police report significant drop in bombings in 2026
The number of explosions in Sweden has almost halved this year compared to 2025, with a total of 75 detonations recorded up to the end of August.
Sweden saw 139 explosions between January and August last year, according to police statistics.
Bombings are often classified by police as strategic acts – violence intended to intimidate rather than to kill or injure.
Preparations for and attempted cases of "destruction causing public endangerment" – as the offence tends to be formally known as – have also decreased somewhat compared to a year ago. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: a bombing – en sprängning
Swedish over-65 employment rates double over past two decades
More and more people in Sweden are working for longer, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden.
At the start of the 2000s, around 10 percent of 65-to-74-year-olds were in employment. By 2023, that share had doubled to 20 percent.
The increase shows no sign of stopping. By 2025, the employment rate in this group had risen to 22.2 percent – translating to roughly 232,000 people.
"This means that more than one in five people aged 65 to 74 were in work during 2025," said Statistics Sweden statistician Charlotte Breitz in a statement.
The majority of those who choose to carry on working do so part-time, while 38 percent are self-employed. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: an increase – en ökning
Foreign-born MPs underrepresented in Swedish parliament
The proportion of foreign-born members of the Swedish parliament remains at the same level as it was following the 2010 election, reports public radio broadcaster SR Ekot, despite a notable rise in the number of foreign-born voters over the same period.
Around eight percent of sitting MPs were born abroad. Meanwhile, the share of eligible foreign-born voters in the parliamentary election has climbed from 11 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in the most recent election, according to figures from Statistics Sweden.
However, there are significant disparities between different demographic groups, according to Cecilia Josefsson, a political scientist at Uppsala University.
"For instance, people with roots in another Nordic country are not underrepresented in politics – quite the opposite, in fact. On the other hand, groups such as Syrians, who currently represent the largest immigrant population in Sweden, have very little political representation," she told SR Ekot.
Overall, roughly 20 percent of Sweden's total population is born outside the country. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: a population – en befolkning
Migration court rules that new Swedish citizenship requirements apply to pending applications
A Swedish Migration Court has ruled that the Migration Agency was right to reject citizenship for an applicant who failed to meet the new eight-year residency requirement, despite him qualifying under the requirements in place when he applied.
In its first appeal ruling concerning the new citizenship law that came into force on June 6th, the Migration Court in Malmö argued that the government and the parliament had clearly intended that the new requirements should apply to pending cases, and argued that such retroactive legislation did not conflict with either Swedish or European law.
The man appealing, who comes from a non-EU country and has lived in Sweden since 2019, applied for citizenship in June 2025. The Swedish Migration Agency then rejected his application on June 9th 2026, three days after the law was changed to increase the residency requirement to eight years.
According to the Fair Transition campaign, one of Sweden's two migration courts, the court in Gothenburg, has already rejected several appeals, but this is the first decision from the Malmö migration court, which is generally viewed in Sweden as the leading court for migration law. (The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: an appeal – en överklagan