For Mariam Hussain, the local team leader for Sweden’s Election Authority, it felt like more people here were choosing to vote in advance this year than back in 2018.

“It’s all go-go-go here,” she told The Local. “In the last election, we had only 3,000 people voting here, and now we’re nearly at 4,000 already.”

According to data from Statistics Sweden, turnout in the parliamentary elections among citizens born abroad, although still higher than it is in most countries in the world, is lower than the very high rates among those born in Sweden. 

Some 74 percent of those born abroad voted in 2018, compared to 90 percent of those born in Sweden. 

However, analysis by The Global Village, which campaigns for better integration in Sweden, shows this voting gap declining dramatically among those born in Sweden with at least one parent born abroad. 

See below, how Swedish-Iranians with at least one parent vote abroad, are just one percent below the Swedish norm. 

Among the voters The Local spoke to, surprisingly few seemed worried either by the way anti-immigration rhetoric has come in this election from the mainstream Moderate and Social Democrat parties as well as from the far-right Sweden Democrats, or about the risk of the far-right power gaining power and influence. 

“I would rather they don’t win, but they will have to cooperate with other parties,” said Benazira, 18, who was voting for the first time. “They have some good ideas when it comes to nuclear power and stopping crime, but they have some ideas that aren’t so good for integration.”

Omar Hashi, 45, was also voting the for the first time. He became a Swedish citizen last year after eight years in Somalia, where, he says, “there’s been war for nearly 30 years, so there’s no voting rights”.

“It’s the first time, and it feels very good. It’s very nice to choose who will lead the country in the future,” he said.

“I hope Sweden chooses the Social Democrats,” he added, adding that he was not too worried about what would happen if the right-wing Moderate Party led a new government with Sweden Democrat backing. “That’s the way it goes. What can you do?”

Another Somali man, sitting debating with a group of his countrymen over tiny cups of espresso coffee at the next door Calles Restaurang, said he was more worried about the price of petrol and electricity.

“I work in Lund,” he said. “I have to drive there and back several times every day, and at these prices, that really adds up.”

As for the threat from the Sweden Democrats, he said he believed that Sweden was a stable, democratic country, so he didn’t think they could do any real or lasting harm. “It doesn’t make any difference who wins in my opinion. We’ve got a constitution in Sweden.”

Several other Swedes with immigrant backgrounds expressed this same view, with a surprisingly large number saying they felt the populist party’s tough approach to crime and immigration made sense. 

“I’m not worried about the Sweden Democrats. They’re the party that cares about Sweden the most,” said one young man with a Middle-Eastern background, who refused to give his name. “They don’t want Sweden to be shit, the same as all the other countries. They want people to work.”

“I’m not worried about the Sweden Democrats. Whoever wins wins,” agreed another young man with a background in the Middle East, who called himself ‘James’ and who was also voting for the first time.

“I think that we as a country need workers who can get a good job and earn good money and not so many people who are just going to come and sit around living on benefits,” he said.

He was more angry about the new immigrant party Nyans, who he said wanted to “split Sweden”. 

Nurtan, a youth worker who was about to vote for the Left Party, said she had been “a little disappointed that there’s been such a big, big focus of everything that’s negative” in the election campaign.

“There’s been a lot of focus on gang criminality but the statistics show that gang criminality is not nearly as big a problem as some politicians want us to believe, so they can frighten us,” she said. “There should be a lot more focus on healthcare and on schools.”

As for the Sweden Democrats, she is strongly opposed to them finally having their big breakthrough in this election, demanding significant policy changes as the supporting party for a new right-wing government.

“I’m not worried, because I refuse to believe that they will get power. I believe in Sweden. I believe that we are not going to vote blue.”