Who's ahead in the polls?
The left bloc right now looks set to increase their hold on both the city and the surrounding region, with the Social Democrats, Green Party and Left party in some polls on track to win their own majority in Gothenburg, meaning they will no longer need to rule in coalition with the Centre Party.
A Novus poll on the municipal election for the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper, conducted in the first week of September, showed the Social Democrats up nearly a percentage point from the 2022 election with 25.7 percent, the Left Party surging from 11.4 percent in 2022 to 15.9 percent, and the Green Party growing from 6 percent to 10 percent.
This gives these parties alone a majority of 51.5 percent.
On the right, things are not going so well with two parties – the Liberals and Christian Democrats, below the 4 percent threshold for winning seats in the city council in the poll.
Regionally, the red-green parties also look likely to retain power in Västra Götaland region, but there is no regional equivalent of Göteborgs-Posten's municipal poll.
What are the big issues?
The opposition has been attacking the red-green coalition in the municipality for mismanaging the city finances, and for wasting money on prestige projects rather than spending it on schools and elderly care. They have also attacked them for being hostile to motorists, and for failing to tackle segregation.
In the Västra Götaland region, the opposition's attack has focused primarily on the long waiting times for hospital treatment, and poor conditions for health workers.
Arenakvarteret project
There is a big debate about plans to demolish the Valhallabadet swimming pool complex as part of the broader 14 billion kronor Arenakvarteret project to build a new arena and events centre in the city.
The Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats, and Green Party all want to stop the project and use the money to finance other city requirements, while the other parties are broadly in favour, although they differ over how the project should be financed.
Health
The Moderates are highly critical of the long waiting times for treatment in the region, particularly for psychiatric treatment, calling for a greater use of private providers and better accessibility to primary care, with more drop-in appointments.
The Social Democrats, Left and Green Party on the other hand warn that the opposition are planning to use more private providers to supply healthcare, who will then siphon off tax money as profits, meaning less money for patients.
The Social Democrats are particularly opposed to plans to open up child psychiatry (BUP) to the private sector.
Another big issue is the problem the region is facing recruiting health workers, with the left-wing parties calling for higher pay and better conditions.
Transport
The big debate is about reliability of services in Västtrafik, the regional transport organisation, and also on whether there is a need to raise fares.
The Social Democrats are opposed to raising fares, whereas the Moderates want fares to be indexed to inflation.
The Moderates also want to create a single ticket zone covering the whole of Västra Götaland as a way of encouraging more commuters to use public transport.
The Moderates, Democrats, and Sweden Democrats also criticise the current government's perceived hostility to cars, with the Democrats accusing the left-wing parties of closing roads and removing residential parking places without supplying the public transport to replace it.
Schools
The Social Democrats are campaigning on "small school" reform with a maximum of 12 students per teacher in the early grades, with more qualified teachers recruited, and also on plans to ban profit-making in the school sector.
The Moderates also plan to reduce classes, setting a maximum number of 24 pupils per class and are accusing the Social Democrats of planning to close functioning small schools in vulnerable areas and consolidate them into new jätteskolor.
Housing
The Moderate Party is campaigning – as the party is in Stockholm – for more detached and terraced houses to be built so that the dream of having a house is open to more people, and is opposed to high-rise rental housing being built in areas with detached or terraced housing. The party has called a plan to build two rental blocks in Örgryte as tvångsblandning, or "forced integration".
The Social Democrats and Left Party are in favour of building more cheap rental housing, including in Örgryte.