Sweden is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. King Carl XVI Gustaf, on the throne since 15 September 1973, is head of state with purely ceremonial duties. Executive power lies with the government led by the prime minister, who answers to the 349-seat Riksdag. The core of the constitution is the Instrument of Government of 1974, in force since 1 January 1975. As of early October 2026, Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Party is prime minister in a caretaker capacity. His bloc lost the general election of 13 September 2026. Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson was given the task of forming a new government on 18 September but handed it back to the Speaker on 28 September, and talks on who will lead Sweden were still under way.
The 1974 Instrument of Government (Regeringsformen)
Sweden's constitution is made up of four Basic Laws, and the most important is the Instrument of Government, in Swedish regeringsformen. It sets out the basic principles of Swedish political life and defines citizens' rights and freedoms. The text drafted in the early 1970s put into writing what had been Swedish practice since 1917. From that year, kings had chosen ministers who had the support of a Riksdag majority. On paper, though, the 1809 Instrument of Government still gave the monarch wide powers. The 1974 text removed the gap between law and practice. It placed executive power formally in "the Government", which answers to the Riksdag, and left the head of state outside government.
The Instrument of Government has older roots. Sweden's first constitutional Instrument of Government was enacted in 1719 and began a half-century known as the Age of Liberty. Gustav III's coup of 1772 restored royal power. The 1809 text, adopted after Sweden lost Finland to Russia, split power between king and Riksdag and lasted until 1974. A major revision approved by the Riksdag in 2009 took effect on 1 January 2011. It simplified the language, added protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, made public bodies responsible for children's rights and for the culture and languages of ethnic minorities, naming the Sami people, and made it easier for courts to test new laws against the constitution and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Amending any Basic Law takes two identical votes of the Riksdag in two successive parliamentary terms, with a general election between them. A simple majority is enough each time. The rule means voters always get a say, through an election, before a constitutional change becomes final. A referendum can be added to the first vote, but this is optional.
Three more Basic Laws: 1766, 1810 and 1991
The Freedom of the Press Act, tryckfrihetsförordningen, goes back to 1766. Largely the work of the politician Anders Chydenius, it abolished censorship and created the principle of public access, offentlighetsprincipen. Under that principle, documents held by central and local authorities are open to anyone who asks, and authorities must respond promptly. Exceptions are set out in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act of 2009. The Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression of 1991 applies the same protections to radio, television, film and the internet.
The fourth law is the Act of Succession. It was adopted at Örebro on 26 September 1810, when the Riksdag of the Estates chose the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as heir to the throne, and it still sets the order of succession in the House of Bernadotte. Its biggest change came on 1 January 1980, when Sweden replaced male-only succession with absolute primogeniture. It was the first monarchy in Western Europe to do so. Crown Princess Victoria, born in 1977, became heir ahead of her younger brother, Prince Carl Philip. The Riksdag Act, which sets out how parliament works, sits between a Basic Law and an ordinary statute, and only some of its chapters are entrenched.
Carl XVI Gustaf and the end of royal power in 1975
Carl XVI Gustaf became king on the death of his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf in 1973, months before the new Instrument of Government stripped the crown of its remaining executive powers. He is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history. He still has constitutional duties, but none of them involves a decision. He chairs the Council of State held when a government changes hands. He also chairs the Council on Foreign Affairs and opens the Riksdag's annual session. The prime minister must keep him informed of the country's affairs.
The 1974 text took away the most important royal duty, appointing the prime minister, and gave it to the Speaker of the Riksdag. Since 1975 the monarch has held no executive powers at all, not even nominal ones, and his official residence at Stockholm Palace has no role in forming governments.
Negative parliamentarism: how the Speaker chooses a prime minister
After an election or a government's fall, the Speaker consults the party groups and then nominates a candidate for prime minister. The Riksdag then votes, and the candidate is approved unless more than half of all members, at least 175 of 349, vote against. This rule, known as negative parliamentarism, lets minority governments take office as long as a majority does not actively oppose them. The prime minister then appoints the other ministers and assigns them ministries. A minister or the whole government can be removed by a vote of no confidence, and the Speaker then formally discharges them.
Swedish government is collective. Decisions are taken by the cabinet as a body, with at least five ministers present, after the minister responsible has reported on the matter. A Swedish peculiarity is the ban on ministerial rule, ministerstyre: under chapter 12 of the Instrument of Government, no minister or member of the Riksdag may interfere in an agency's day-to-day work or in how it decides an individual case. The government steers agencies through laws, budgets and general instructions instead. The Government Offices are based at Rosenbad, an Art Nouveau building by Ferdinand Boberg completed in 1902 on the Norrström waterfront, across the water from parliament.
Two further checks are written into the system. The Parliamentary Ombudsmen, an office created in 1809 that began the modern use of the word "ombudsman", are four officials elected by the Riksdag for six-year terms who investigate whether authorities obey the law. The Supreme Court, Högsta domstolen, has 16 justices who are appointed by the government from candidates vetted by an independent Judges Proposals Board. Unlike many constitutional systems, Sweden has no separate constitutional court that can strike down acts of parliament.
The 349-seat Riksdag on Helgeandsholmen
The Riksdag traces its roots to a meeting at Arboga in 1435. It sat as four estates (nobility, clergy, burghers and peasants) until 1866, when it became a two-chamber parliament. Universal suffrage was completed with votes for women in 1921. Since the election of 1970 it has had a single chamber. That first unicameral Riksdag had 350 seats, and in 1973 the government and opposition each won 175. Some tied votes were settled by drawing lots, so from 1976 the number of seats was cut to an odd 349. Members have served fixed four-year terms since 1994, and the house meets in Parliament House on the islet of Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm's old town.
Seats are allocated by proportional representation with open lists. Of the 349 seats, 310 are filled in 29 constituencies of between 2 and 41 seats each. The remaining 39 are national levelling seats that make each party's overall share match its vote. A party needs 4 percent of the national vote, or 12 percent in a single constituency, to win seats. Elections fall on the second Sunday of September, the same day as elections to Sweden's 21 regions and 290 municipalities. The Speaker, Andreas Norlén of the Moderates, was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 and again in 2026.
The election of 13 September 2026 and the stalled government talks
The 2026 election was Sweden's first since it joined NATO on 7 March 2024. Since 2022 Kristersson had led a minority cabinet of the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals. It relied on the Sweden Democrats under the Tidö Agreement, named after the castle where the deal was negotiated. Those four parties faced an opposition of the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Centre Party and the Greens.
The opposition won 176 seats on 49.6 percent of the vote, and the Tidö parties won 173 on 48.8 percent. The Social Democrats remained the largest party with 28.0 percent and 99 seats. The Moderates moved into second place with 19.9 percent and 70 seats, and the Sweden Democrats fell to 17.5 percent and 62 seats, their first drop in support at a general election. Kristersson handed his resignation to the Speaker on 17 September and stayed on as caretaker. On 18 September Norlén asked Andersson, who had been Sweden's first female prime minister from 2021 to 2022, to form a government. Talks quickly stalled over whether the Left Party would sit in cabinet, which the Centre Party opposed. When the new Riksdag met on 28 September, the Left Party backed Norlén for Speaker against the Social Democrats' candidate, Johanna Haraldsson, and Norlén was re-elected. Andersson then returned the task, saying she saw no way to form a government as things stood, and Norlén began a new round of meetings with party leaders on 30 September. Under negative parliamentarism, any candidate can take office as long as 175 members do not vote against.
The Riksdag, the regions and the municipalities are the three elected levels of government, with the regions running health care and the municipalities running schools and social services; the article on Sweden's counties and regions lists them all. The Riksdag, Rosenbad and the royal palace all stand within a few hundred metres of each other in Stockholm, the capital, where the 2026 government talks are taking place.