Left Party

The Left Party was founded in May 1917 when a group left the Social Democrats. The party has changed its name several times: Communist Party of Sweden in 1921, Left Party Communists in 1967 and the Left Party in 1990. The party has held seats in the Riksdag since it was founded.

The party's best result in recent decades was in 1998, with 11.99 percent. From 1998 to 2006 the party cooperated with the Social Democratic government without being part of it. In 2021 the party helped the Riksdag vote out Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in a vote of no confidence. Nooshi Dadgostar became party leader in October 2020. From 2022 to 2026 the party was in opposition to Kristersson's government.

In the 2026 election the party won 8.40 percent, its highest since 2002. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson resigned on 17 September 2026. The Social Democrats' Magdalena Andersson was voted down in the Riksdag on 15 October, and on 26 October the Centre Party's Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist announced that she had not found support for a government.

In its party programme the party describes its foundation as socialism, feminism and antiracism on an ecological basis. The party says its goal is an equal society without class divides, and the programme describes a society built "from each according to ability, to each according to need".

The 2026 election manifesto has three main areas: welfare without profit taking, more money left for households and a jobs policy for the climate transition. The party writes: "We want to save and rebuild the welfare system". In its election platform the party says that "those with the highest incomes and large fortunes need to pay more tax".

On the question of government the party says that "Sweden needs a red-green government that includes the Left Party", and that it will not support a government the party is not part of.

The party wants to raise child benefit by 400 kronor a month, increase general government grants to municipalities and regions by 8 billion kronor and abolish the government's benefit ceiling. The party wants to freeze rents while the rules for setting rents are reviewed and to introduce what it calls Sweden prices for electricity, where exported electricity is priced separately. The party also proposes a cap on the electricity price of 75 öre per kilowatt hour, financed by a levy on the electricity industry.

Financing according to the budget motion for 2026: a temporary tax on banks' excess profits of about 10 billion kronor, a tax on grid companies' excess profits, higher taxes on capital and property, a ceiling of 2 million kronor for investment savings accounts and a preparedness tax of 5 percentage points on monthly incomes above 65,000 kronor. The party wants to abolish the tax deduction for household services. The party also wants a billionaire tax to be investigated.

The party wants to introduce a "general reduction of working hours with maintained pay" through a new law on weekly working hours, and wants full time to be the norm. The party wants 80 percent of employees to receive 80 percent of their previous pay from unemployment insurance and wants to stop the privatisation of the Public Employment Service. The party proposes emergency jobs where the state pays part of the wage, a job guarantee for young people in the public sector and more places in higher vocational education. In its budget motion the party allocates 3 billion kronor more to labour market policy and 2 billion kronor to emergency jobs.

The party says: "We want to strengthen the police, social services, school health services and leisure activities". The party wants to put more resources into support for people who want to leave criminal gangs and in reducing segregation. In its budget motion the party writes that some sentences may need to be increased, with a focus on stopping the recruitment of children into crime. The party allocates 1 billion kronor to social services' work with children at risk and 50 million kronor to leisure activities. The party also wants to stop criminal actors in the welfare sector by requiring a permit to open a health centre.

The party says it wants to pursue "a humane policy that protects the right of asylum". In its budget motion the party spends 1.6 billion kronor less than the government on the migration expenditure area and instead moves money to reception in the municipalities: 700 million kronor more in compensation for receiving refugees, 277 million kronor more in introduction benefit and 60 million kronor more for adult education.

The party proposes climate investments of 700 billion kronor over ten years and a state company for offshore wind power with 50 billion kronor. The party wants to expand the power grids and renewable energy, halve public transport fares across the country and introduce a Sweden ticket for 450 kronor a month. The party wants to bring the railways together in one state organisation, build the New East Coast Line and introduce a broader electric car premium. The party wants property tax from power plants to stay in the municipalities where the electricity is produced. The party wants to reduce the loan support for new nuclear power.

The party wants for-profit companies to no longer be allowed to run tax-funded health care and social care. The party proposes a deprivatisation commission, a new procurement law that excludes for-profit providers and the abolition of the Act on System of Choice. Private health insurance should not be usable in publicly funded care. The party wants to give the regions 5 billion kronor in targeted state grants, more doctors in primary care, a boost for psychiatry, restored high cost protection for medicines and high cost protection in dental care. The party also wants to restore free dental care for young people up to age 23 and raise pay in female dominated welfare jobs.

The party wants to ban limited companies from running schools and introduce a total ban on profit distribution from schools and preschools. According to the party, municipalities should have a veto over new independent schools, and the school voucher for independent schools should be lower than for municipal ones. The party wants to regulate the size of classes and of groups in preschool and after school care, set a maximum number of pupils for each school doctor, psychologist, counsellor and school nurse, and raise state grants to schools facing harder conditions. In its budget motion the party allocates 1 billion kronor to school health services.

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.

We have not found any statement by a public authority on a temporary tax on banks' excess profits or on a cap on electricity prices. On the RUT deduction for household services, which the Left Party wants to abolish, the Swedish National Audit Office noted in 2020 that the deduction has led to more work and higher incomes for some groups, and that foreign-born people who started working in the RUT sector have strengthened their position in the labour market. At the same time, the Audit Office judged that the government's assessment that the reform pays for itself has weak empirical support.

A special study published by the National Institute of Economic Research in December 2024, written by a researcher at Linnaeus University, concludes that research does not show any significant positive effects on employment from shorter working hours, especially not if wages are raised at the same time to compensate employees, and that GDP per capita is expected to fall if working hours are shortened by law. The study states that this must be weighed against positive effects on health and leisure. On the proposal type of subsidised employment in the public sector, the Public Employment Service's 2024 evaluation of extra jobs showed generally small effects, and the report notes that international studies suggest that subsidised employment in the public sector is not effective. We have not found any statement by a public agency on the proposal that 80 per cent of employees should receive 80 per cent of their wage in unemployment benefit.

On the type of proposal for higher penalties for recruiting children into crime: on 1 September 2026 Brå advised against the memorandum on an aggravated offence of involving minors in crime and wrote that measures should primarily target adults higher up in the networks. The Swedish Police Authority was positive to the proposal and considered that a higher minimum penalty should be considered. We have not found any statement by a public authority on the party's proposals for more money for social services and leisure activities, support for people leaving gangs or a permit requirement for starting health centres.

We have not found any agency statement on the Left Party's proposals on this issue, namely an asylum policy that protects the right of asylum and the budget priorities with more money for refugee reception, establishment allowance and adult education.

The Swedish Climate Policy Council writes in its report of 19 March 2026 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, while it also welcomes investment in fossil-free electricity generation. The Council considers that compensation to municipalities with wind power should correspond to the property tax that the wind turbines generate. We have not found any agency statement on a state-owned company for offshore wind power or on climate investments of 700 billion kronor.

On limiting profits in tax-funded welfare (the type of proposal in SOU 2016:78): Konkurrensverket judged that the inquiry had not shown grounds for regulating profits and opposed the proposals, but had no objection to replacing the Act on System of Choice with a new act. Riksrevisionen took no position on the political question but judged that the report was not an adequate basis for a decision on a profit cap. On free dental care for young adults: in report 2021:4 the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF) found that the share visiting dental care each year rose by 25.5 percentage points when the age limit was raised, most among those with poorer dental health or low household income. ISF also writes that it cannot determine how much of this is due to the care being free.

On the proposal type, restrictions on profit distribution in independent schools, the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket), in its response of 25 June 2025 to SOU 2025:37, supports a ban on value transfers for five years from the first municipal grant, which is narrower than a total ban on limited companies and dividends. Skolverket judges that the rule would probably stop new independent schools from being established. On nationally fixed staffing of pupil health services, Skolverket, in its response of 18 May 2026 to SOU 2025:113, opposes fixed calculation bases for pupil health staffing and a fixed frequency for the availability of pupil health services, citing the risk of overly detailed national regulation. We have not found any statement by a public authority on a municipal veto over new independent schools.