Christian Democrats

The party was founded in 1964 as Kristen Demokratisk Samling (KDS). According to the party's own history, the Pentecostal pastor Lewi Pethrus was a driving force, and one triggering issue was a proposal to reduce religious education in schools. Birger Ekstedt became the first party chair. Alf Svensson led the party from 1973 to 2004, Göran Hägglund from 2004 to 2015 and Ebba Busch since 2015. The name was changed to Kristdemokratiska Samhällspartiet in 1987 and to Kristdemokraterna in 1996.

During its first twenty years the party polled under two percent in Riksdag elections. In 1985 KDS contested the election in an electoral alliance with the Centre Party, and Alf Svensson became the party's first member of the Riksdag. The party entered the Riksdag on its own in 1991 with 7.1 percent and 26 seats. The best election so far was 1998, with 11.7 percent and 42 seats.

The Christian Democrats have been part of the Bildt (1991 to 1994), Reinfeldt (2006 to 2014) and Kristersson (since 2022) governments. The party helped form the Alliance for Sweden in 2004 and in 2022 joined the Tidö cooperation with M, L and SD. In the Kristersson government Ebba Busch has been deputy prime minister, the first Christian Democrat in that post according to the party.

The party's programme of principles is based on the idea of the equal and inviolable worth of all people and on a few central concepts: personalism, stewardship, subsidiarity and the idea of human imperfection. On the family the party writes that it is "the natural and fundamental unit of society" (programme of principles). Subsidiarity is summarised as "The right power in the right place", which according to the programme can mean both decentralisation and larger communities taking over what smaller ones cannot manage.

The 2026 election manifesto, "Believe in Sweden", is built around four parts: ordinary families, the core of welfare, a stronger Sweden and a struggle over values. The party writes that "a secure family gives secure children" and that "Welfare must be prioritised in the next term of office" (election manifesto).

The manifesto describes a "Sweden dream" of a country that makes everyday life easier, takes responsibility for health care, prepares for the future and looks after values that, according to the party, are grounded in Christian ethics. The party also states that Sweden needs "law and order", including in migration policy and in the fight against organised crime.

The Christian Democrats want to lower taxes for households and write that "Money in the wallet is part of welfare". The party wants to raise the child allowance to 2,000 kronor and then index it to inflation. The tax on profit from selling a home would, under the proposal, fall by 2 percent per year after five years of ownership, so that it eventually disappears for those who have lived in the same home for a long time. The party also wants to introduce a child bonus on mothers' premium pension accounts, which according to the Christian Democrats gives about 700 kronor more per month in pension for a mother of two. For investments that lead to growth, the party proposes an exemption from the state's balanced budget requirement for 20 years. Ahead of the budget for 2026, the Christian Democrats as a governing party highlighted reduced VAT on food, reduced electricity tax, increased housing allowance and reduced tax for pensioners. Financing according to the election manifesto: none stated.

The party wants to abolish the Swedish Public Employment Service in its current form and transfer responsibility for matching, support and training to the municipalities. The Christian Democrats want to go ahead with a two-year vocational education at upper secondary level and build a working apprenticeship system. For businesses the party proposes the principle "one rule in, two rules out", a permanent regulatory simplification council and a single point of contact with government agencies. According to the Christian Democrats, growth companies should be able to recruit internationally through faster visa processes. Pensioners who return to work in health care and social care would receive a financial bonus.

The Christian Democrats want the police to be able to act in real time online, for example against the recruitment of minors and contract killings, and want facial recognition to be allowed during ongoing terrorist attacks and in surveillance of criminal networks. Under the proposal, social services would be able to use compulsory measures against parents who do not cooperate, and a national relocation programme would help families move children away from a criminal environment. The Swedish Prosecution Authority would be able to stop payments to welfare companies suspected of links to organised crime. The party wants to ban so-called activity clubs and rebuild marginalised areas with detached houses and owner-occupied apartments. In October 2026 the Christian Democrats presented a security report with 74 proposals for preventing crime, focused on parental support, schools and associations.

The Christian Democrats write that those who have fled to Sweden should adapt to Swedish values and that criminals who "do not belong here" should be deported. The party wants to require passed tests in Swedish and civics for citizenship and wants everyone newly hired in childcare and elderly care to have good knowledge of Swedish. The Christian Democrats want to ban the burqa, niqab and other face coverings in public places, ban parallel trials built on honour culture and stop funding of religious communities and associations from regimes with links to extremism. The party wants to procure the introduction programme for newly arrived immigrants from civil society.

The party wants to complete the building of new nuclear power plants and increase European cooperation on nuclear power. According to the Christian Democrats, Sweden should have the same climate targets as the EU, and the EU should require other countries to reduce their emissions. The Christian Democrats propose general tariffs against countries' use of coal power, with the revenue going to climate measures in developing countries. Local communities should share in the profit when wind power, solar parks or mines are established, and access to motor fuel should be secured throughout the country. The programme of principles names fossil freedom, security of supply and competitiveness as the pillars of energy policy.

The Christian Democrats want the state to take over responsibility for health care and for the 21 regions to be dissolved afterwards. The party writes that "Your postcode should not decide when and how you get care". According to the party's website, the six health care regions would remain for specialised care and knowledge governance. The Christian Democrats also want to strengthen primary care with a fixed doctor contact, tighten the care guarantee, enact a law on patient rights and reform psychiatry with more care places. In elderly care the party proposes a nursing home guarantee for everyone over 85 years, the right to choose a carer of the same sex for intimate care and the right to take a care needs decision along when moving. Under the proposal, the high-cost protection for medicines would become income-tested, and more people under 67 years with large dental care needs would be covered by the new dental care protection.

The Christian Democrats want more teacher-led instruction and write that "Teachers, not screens, should lead teaching in schools". Under the proposal, the handing out of personal computers and tablets would stop entirely in the lower and middle grades, and the party wants to introduce an age limit for social media. The party wants to introduce a student health guarantee so that students can reach student health services every school day, 30 minutes of daily physical activity and free school meals. The Christian Democrats want to investigate how so-called no excuses schools can be established and to make it mandatory to offer Junior Achievement. In preschool, groups for the youngest children should have at most 12 children. Under the proposal, health care, schools and social care would check the criminal record register both at hiring and regularly.

This section sets out what government agencies and state councils have said about the party's proposals or about the same type of proposal, in the agency's own words or a close summary, both when they support and when they oppose. Parties that have been in government often receive more consultation responses, because their proposals have become inquiries and government bills, so a difference in quantity is not a judgement.

The Christian Democrats want to exempt investments that lead to growth from the state's balance requirement. In its consultation response on the fiscal policy framework, the Fiscal Policy Council welcomed that no expenditure or revenue is to be excluded from the framework, but also wrote that a temporarily high need for investment is a reason to temporarily lower the net lending target for the public sector as a whole. On the reduced VAT on food, which the party highlighted ahead of the 2026 budget, the Council writes that it increases distortions in the tax system and risks becoming permanent, and the Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV) advised against the proposal. The Climate Policy Council judges that the lower electricity tax can to some extent stimulate electrification but works against efficient energy use. We have not found any statement by a public authority on the party's proposals on child benefit or on the tax on gains from selling a home.

We have not found any statement by a public agency on abolishing the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) and transferring its responsibility to the municipalities. In 2018, in a report on unemployed people receiving social assistance, IFAU wrote that it is not a given that today's arrangement, in which municipalities take a large share of responsibility, is optimal, and that different solutions have different advantages and disadvantages. The same report notes that the few Swedish evaluations of municipal measures for this group show weak or no effects, while the Public Employment Service's programmes for the group have hardly been studied at all.

On real-time facial recognition: in June 2025 the Swedish Police Authority supported the memorandum on police use of AI for real-time facial recognition (Ds 2025:7). The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) could not support the proposal as drafted and wrote that the requirements for using the technology in public places were set too low. IMY also considered that the law should be time-limited so that its effects can be evaluated. We have not found any statement by a public authority on the party's other proposals, such as the relocation programme for families, the ban on so-called active clubs or letting the Swedish Prosecution Authority stop payments to welfare companies.

On the type of proposal requiring knowledge of Swedish and civics for citizenship, the Swedish National Agency for Education took no position on 13 April 2021 on the requirement itself, but advised against the agency being responsible for the tests and considered the timetable unrealistic. The Swedish Migration Agency supported, in the same month, that the knowledge should also be demonstrable through grades and expected longer processing times. On the type of proposal tightening expulsion on grounds of crime, the Council on Legislation advised against the government's proposal on 18 March 2026, partly because the rules were changed as recently as 1 August 2022 and have not yet been evaluated. We have not found any agency statement on a ban on the burqa and niqab.

In its report of 19 March 2026 the Swedish Climate Policy Council welcomes investment in fossil-free electricity generation, but writes that the inquiry and the consultation responses on state support for new nuclear power point to the risk of very large future costs for taxpayers and electricity users. In its consultation response of 27 November 2024 the Swedish Energy Agency held that a model for financing and risk sharing for new nuclear power should be market-based and that a programme of that scale should have broad political support in the Riksdag. The Council recommends that local communities get a share of the profits from wind power. We have not found any agency statement on tariffs against countries' use of coal power.

On the state taking over responsibility for health care: the Care Responsibility Committee (SOU 2025:62) instead pointed to wider state responsibility in six areas. In its consultation response of 30 October 2025, Vårdanalys wrote that it cannot take a position on full or partial state ownership, since the material lacks an overall weighing of advantages and disadvantages, and that structure and responsibility need further inquiry. Statskontoret agreed that full nationalisation would require a very large agency and wrote that a single agency does not guarantee equal provision. On a named regular doctor: Vårdanalys reported on 31 March 2026 that the share who say they have a regular doctor rose from 26 per cent in 2024 to 31 per cent in 2025, while nearly six in ten say they need one. The agency writes that access varies between regions and links this to a shortage of doctors in primary care.

On the proposal type, national requirements for the availability of pupil health services, the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) commented on the inquiry An improved pupil health service (SOU 2025:113) on 18 May 2026. Skolverket welcomes a clarified remit and a staffing plan, but opposes requiring the pupil health professions to be present at the school with a fixed frequency, because the rule does not take account of schools' differing circumstances. Skolverket also opposes a seven-day care guarantee. We have not found any statement by a public authority on the Christian Democrats' proposals to stop issuing personal computers and tablets in lower and middle school or on an age limit for social media.