Before every election in Sweden, the government invites the OSCE and its election monitoring body, ODIHR, to observe. They then respond by conducting a “Needs Assessment Mission,” which is a kind of needs analysis.
Representatives of the organisation visited Sweden from May 5 to 7 this year to evaluate the electoral environment and preparations for the parliamentary, regional and municipal elections this autumn.
Do not recommend
The organization met with representatives from government agencies, political parties and the media, among others, to form an opinion on the need to monitor the Swedish elections. According to the evaluation report, all of them expressed a very high level of confidence in the electoral system and the electoral authority's ability to conduct the elections in a professional, impartial and transparent manner.
The visit resulted in OSCE/ODIHR not recommending an election observation mission for this autumn's elections.
Although the official election observation body will not be present in Sweden, several other organizations have announced that they will be present and observe how the election is being conducted.
Possible accreditation
A new feature this year is that it is possible to apply for accreditation as an election observer. As of July 22, nine organizations have applied for and been granted accreditation.
"The Swedish elections are open for anyone to observe. They have been so in the past and still are," says Anna Nyqvist, head of the Swedish Election Authority.
Although Swedish elections have always been open, Sweden has previously received criticism from, among others, the OSCE because the lack of formal accreditation has made the work more difficult for observers.
Therefore, Sweden introduced accreditation as a possibility, following a legal change that came into effect on December 1, 2025. It is absolutely not a requirement, but organizations or individuals can observe Swedish elections without accreditation, explains Anna Nykvist.
As of July 22, the following have applied for and been granted accreditation to observe the elections on September 13:
African Parliament
Public Law Center of the University of Lomé
ForNyaLund
Human Virtues
Growth foundation Cameroon
Election Times
Nouvelle Perspective Suisse (NPS)
SNAS Africa
Dipendra Kandel Initiative
Source: Election Authority
