By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A newly elected Swedish lawmaker has taken a leave of absence as authorities investigate suspected election fraud in Dalarna County, putting additional scrutiny on a parliamentary election decided by a three-seat difference between the country’s center-left and right-wing blocs.
Mohamed Abdukardir Ali, a Somali-born Left Party candidate from Borlänge, unexpectedly won a seat in Sweden’s Riksdag after receiving 648 personal preference votes, enough to move him ahead of candidates placed higher on his party’s list.
Days later, authorities opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of improper influence on voters connected to the campaign.
The Left Party announced Tuesday that Ali would take a “time out” and would not initially serve in parliament while the investigation proceeds. Fellow Left Party politician Ahmed Abas Omar, who was seeking a seat on Borlänge’s municipal council, also announced that he would step aside temporarily.
Ali has denied participating in election fraud.
“It is completely, completely, wrong. I have not done it. I know the law. I have been trusted in every district in Dalarna. And it is not something that I can do, such a serious crime, against Swedish law.”
Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that police surveillance conducted before the election documented vehicles transporting voters to polling locations and ballots inside one of the vehicles.
Media reports have also alleged that voters were offered money and that ballots were distributed with other Left Party candidates already crossed out.
SVT said it had not independently confirmed allegations that voters were paid. The broadcaster reported Thursday that investigators are examining “financial transactions.”
The investigation is being led by Sweden’s National Anti-Corruption Unit, with the National Operations Department of the Swedish Police Authority involved.
The legal classification under investigation concerns improper influence during voting.
An earlier version of the investigation was closed for lack of evidence before being reopened after investigators received additional information.
SVT reported that three people are now listed as suspects in the investigation, although none has been formally notified of suspicion and their identities are protected in investigative records. That represents a development from Tuesday, when prosecutors told Reuters that the inquiry remained at an early stage and no suspects had been identified.
The allegations are receiving national attention because of how closely divided Sweden’s new parliament is.
Official results from Sweden’s Election Authority gave the Social Democrats 99 seats, the Left Party 30, the Centre Party 25 and the Green Party 22, producing 176 seats among the four parties aligned against outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s government.
The Moderate Party won 70 seats, the Sweden Democrats 62, the Christian Democrats 22 and the Liberals 19, totaling 173 seats. The four parties in the first grouping collectively received about 49.6% of the vote, while the four parties in the second received about 48.8%.
The final allocation followed Sweden’s Sept. 13 national election.
Dalarna accounted for 11 parliamentary seats — six going to parties in the 176-seat bloc and five to parties in the 173-seat bloc. Reuters reported that Sweden’s Election Review Board could order either a recount or a rerun in the constituency if it concludes that irregularities may have affected the result.
Any rerun would have to occur within three months of the original election. Sweden has never previously rerun a parliamentary election, according to political scientist Niklas Bolin of Mid Sweden University.
The Election Review Board has said it is too early to comment on whether such action will be necessary.
The investigation centers in part on Sweden’s personal-vote system. Swedish voters primarily choose a party but may also mark an individual candidate on that party’s ballot.
Ali had been placed ninth on the Left Party’s Dalarna candidate list but received 648 personal votes, equal to about 6% of the party’s votes in the constituency. The personal votes propelled him ahead of the party’s lead candidate, Kajsa Fredholm, and into parliament.
The unexpected result drew attention even before the election-fraud allegations emerged.
Ali, 30, had been a member of the Left Party for roughly a year and had little previous political experience. He acknowledged after the election that he had much to learn.
“It is a great honor, but also a great responsibility,” Ali wrote following his election.
“I don’t have long experience of political work so there are things I need to learn, very much to familiarize myself with, and I promise to listen and work hard,” he added.
Questions have also arisen about Ali’s background.
He came to Sweden from Somalia and was denied Swedish citizenship in 2024 because of substantial outstanding debts. He was granted citizenship in February 2026 after a new review by the Swedish Migration Agency, according to SVT.
Records cited in Swedish media showed that he had been granted debt restructuring after accumulating debts involving unpaid taxes, student loans and private obligations.
Ali has said he intends to complete that process.
“Of course I will complete the debt restructuring and do right by myself,” he wrote after questions arose about his finances.
Separately, TV4 reported that Ali previously lived at the same Stockholm-area address as two brothers who authorities considered active members of a criminal network.
According to TV4, the brothers were known to police and had criminal convictions, including one who was recently imprisoned for attempted murder. Police conducted searches at the residence during periods in which Ali was registered there, and one of the brothers was convicted after illegal drugs were found in the apartment.
“Both brothers were highly active in the gang environment during the time that Mohamed Abdukardir Ali was living with them,” a police source told TV4.
The report does not establish that Ali participated in their criminal activity. TV4 said Ali had previously been suspected of an offense but had not been convicted of a crime other than a speeding violation.
The current election inquiry instead concerns allegations surrounding voting in Borlänge.
Swedish media reported that police conducting surveillance followed vehicles allegedly transporting voters between polling places and observed election ballots in one vehicle. Authorities are also examining reports involving pre-marked ballots and possible financial transactions.
Ali and Omar have not been publicly established as having committed election fraud, and Ali has expressly denied involvement.
Left Party Secretary Maria Forsberg described the allegations as extremely serious when announcing Ali’s leave.
“We have agreed that Mohamed Abdukardir Ali will take a time out and will not serve as a member of parliament from the beginning of the parliamentary term due to the ongoing investigation into election fraud,” Forsberg said.
SVT subsequently reported that Left Party officials have sought to persuade Ali to relinquish his parliamentary seat, which would allow Fredholm, the party’s top-listed Dalarna candidate, to enter parliament instead.
Ali has not agreed to permanently surrender the seat, according to the broadcaster. Swedish parliamentary rules mean that the precise consequences of his “time out” remain unresolved ahead of the new Riksdag’s opening.
The broader electoral consequences will depend on what investigators and Sweden’s Election Review Board determine.
The board has authority to evaluate whether irregularities affected an election result and, if warranted, order corrective measures including a recount or rerun.
For now, Sweden’s certified parliamentary allocation remains 176 seats to 173.
The fraud investigation has nevertheless placed Dalarna’s 11 seats under scrutiny at a time when Sweden is beginning the process of forming its next government, with authorities still determining what occurred in Borlänge and whether any alleged irregularities were sufficient to affect the election result.
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