Sweden’s election fraud investigation in Dalarna has been reopened after new information emerged about alleged attempts to influence voters during the September parliamentary election. The case concerns the personal campaign of newly elected Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) MP Mohamed Abdukardir Ali in Borlänge, but prosecutors have stressed that no one has yet been formally notified of suspicion of a crime.
The preliminary investigation is being handled by the Swedish Prosecution Authority’s National Anti-Corruption Unit (Riksenheten mot korruption). It concerns the offence of otillbörligt verkande vid röstning, broadly meaning improper interference with voting.
The investigation was initially opened after a report reached prosecutors on 1 September, before the election, and was later closed because the available evidence was considered insufficient. According to SVT, prosecutors reopened it on Monday after receiving additional information.
Pre-marked Left Party ballots are at the centre of the investigation
According to reports by TV4, Dagens Industri, Expressen and SVT, the allegations concern people who allegedly transported voters to polling stations in Borlänge and supplied them with Left Party ballots on which individual candidates had already been marked.
An anonymous police report seen by Swedish media also alleged that voters had been offered money in connection with voting for a particular parliamentary candidate.
SVT reports that police surveillance allegedly documented cash withdrawals and later observed the same person distributing both money and ballot papers. It has not been established what the money was intended for, and neither police nor prosecutors have publicly confirmed the precise evidence on which the reopened investigation is based.
Prosecutor Oskar Edvardsson has said that new information had been added to the case but declined to provide details because of the confidentiality surrounding the preliminary investigation.
Two Left Party politicians take time out
The case has drawn particular attention because Mohamed Abdukardir Ali unexpectedly won a seat in the Riksdag through personal preference votes in Dalarna.
Ali has denied any involvement in the alleged conduct. Speaking to SVT, he said:
“It is completely, completely wrong. I have not done it. I know the law.”
On Tuesday, the Left Party announced that Ali would take a time out and not serve as an MP from the beginning of the new parliamentary term while the investigation is ongoing.
Party secretary Maria Forsberg said the decision had been agreed with Ali because of the continuing election fraud investigation.
Another Left Party politician in Borlänge, Ahmed Abas Omar, has also announced a time out. Omar received 343 personal preference votes in the municipal election and was on course to move to the top of the party’s local list, according to SVT.
Neither Ali nor Omar has been formally identified by prosecutors as a criminal suspect.
Swedish law covers improper interference with voting
The offence under investigation is set out in Chapter 17, Section 8 of Sweden’s Criminal Code. It applies to someone who seeks to prevent a vote, distort its outcome or otherwise improperly influence voting.
The standard offence can result in a fine or up to six months in prison, while an aggravated offence carries a maximum sentence of four years.
Exactly which conduct would meet that threshold in the Borlänge case is not yet clear. Joakim Nergelius, professor of law at Örebro University, told SVT that Swedish courts have little precedent dealing with allegations of this specific kind.
Transporting voters to polling stations is not in itself generally illegal, he said. Offering voters money or another improper benefit can, however, fall within criminal law, while the legal assessment of distributing ballots that have already been marked for a particular candidate is less clearly established.
The case could also have electoral consequences
The criminal investigation is separate from any examination of the election result itself.
Political scientist Erik Wångmar of Linnaeus University told SVT that, depending on what the investigation establishes and how any electoral review develops, an extreme scenario could involve a new election in the Dalarna constituency. Such an outcome remains hypothetical and no authority has announced that a rerun will take place.
The issue is particularly sensitive because Sweden’s preliminary parliamentary result produced a narrow division between the blocs ahead of the new Riksdag convening on 28 September.
The Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna) have called for the allegations to be investigated thoroughly. Party secretary Tobias Baudin said voters must be able to have full confidence that elections are conducted correctly and according to the law.
For now, the central questions remain unresolved: whether unlawful interference actually occurred, who was responsible if it did, and whether it affected any votes or mandates. Those determinations will depend on the continuing criminal investigation and, potentially, Sweden’s electoral review procedures.
