Almost two months have passed since Sweden’s highly controversial parliamentary election, which saw the Social Democratic-led leftist bloc secure a razor-thin victory over the anti-immigration Tidö coalition of right-wing parties. Yet, hardly a day has passed without more suspicious details emerging about that victory.
Most recently, former Social Democratic MP Widar Andersson filed a complaint against the Migration Agency over its decision to grant citizenship to Mohamed Abdukardir Ali, a newly elected Somali-Swedish MP for the far-left Left Party (V), whose unexpected election is already under scrutiny as part of a police investigation into suspected fraud.
Andersson asked the Parliamentary Ombudsman to examine why Ali received Swedish citizenship in February 2026 despite having previously been rejected over his financial conduct. ‘It is obvious that something has gone wrong,’ he said on Sunday, 25 October.
Documents obtained by Kvartal show that Ali received permanent residence through family reunification in September 2013, although the authorities did not formally verify his identity. He was also issued an alien’s passport noting that deficiency. His application had been submitted at Sweden’s embassy in Addis Ababa in May 2012, when he was 16.
‘Former Social Democratic MP Widar Andersson filed a complaint against the Migration Agency over its decision to grant citizenship to Mohamed Abdukardir Ali’
In January 2023, Ali declared that he had no debts and referred to Sweden’s Enforcement Authority, despite entering a five-year restructuring arrangement only months earlier. The Migration Agency rejected his application, citing his failure to meet the good-conduct requirement. During subsequent proceedings, his representative claimed the arrangement had ended, and his debts had been settled; official records showed it ran until June 2027. In a later appeal, Ali again described the debt as fully repaid. Nevertheless, he was naturalized on 20 February 2026, six months before the election. The agency has not publicly explained its reversal.
Ali’s claimed business connections with Somalia have also unravelled under scrutiny. He described himself as the founder and chief executive of Verisom, an international development venture that Expressen could not locate in corporate registers. Through the Swedish company Afritech Growth, he pursued digital identity and other projects purportedly involving Somali officials. His business partner, former Moderate politician Agneta Nyvall, said she helped finance his trips to Somalia but now doubts whether the promised meetings took place.
Swedish authorities said they knew nothing of the venture, while the government denied that Ali participated in its separate Somalia aid agreement. According to Expressen, Ali had also cited the proposed business project in his citizenship proceedings.
To top it off, after returning to the Riksdag from a month-long absence following the election, a series of brief interviews exposed another controversial aspect of Ali being an MP representing Swedish people: he cannot speak proper Swedish. Moderate MP Louise Meijer questioned how this was even possible for a Swedish citizen, proposing a ten-year citizenship requirement before someone could be elected to Parliament.
Ali entered Parliament from ninth place on the Left Party’s Dalarna list after securing 648 personal votes, enough to displace its leading candidate. Police are investigating allegations that voters were transported to polling stations and given pre-marked ballots; three people are now suspects, and interviews are expected this week. Ali has not been formally accused of any offence and denies involvement.
The election result heightens the significance of the Ali scandal. The left-wing bloc secured 176 seats against 173 for the anti-immigration Tidö parties, with Reuters reporting 73,000 additional opposition votes across 786 immigrant-heavy districts compared with 2022. In Stockholm’s Rinkeby, roughly 94 per cent supported the opposition. The Left Party’s failure to properly vet Ali now hangs over a parliamentary majority partly secured through immigrant votes, making the entire post-election process resemble more of a Somali fraud investigation than the functioning of a Western democracy.
‘Interviews exposed another controversial aspect of Ali being an MP representing Swedish people: he cannot speak proper Swedish’
Yet that victory has produced no government. Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson’s proposed minority cabinet was rejected, while Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist abandoned coalition negotiations on Monday after failing to secure sufficient support. The Centre refuses to govern with the Left, which insists on ministerial positions despite the scandals surrounding its newly elected MP and its overall election performance.
The party nevertheless continues to defend Ali as pressure mounts. Former Social Democratic politician Jan Emanuel on Monday demanded Ali’s resignation and argued that he should never have been granted Swedish citizenship. Accusing the Left Party of prioritizing electoral gains over scrutiny of candidates, Emanuel said the party did not want Ali himself, but rather the immigrant votes he could attract. He also called for a new election, arguing that voters should be allowed to respond to the scandal.