The nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD), which polls suggest have 20% support, are tipped for second place, eight years after they entered parliament.
Neither the governing Social Democrats nor the main centre-right party is likely to win a majority.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has accused the SD of extremism and said that a vote for it was “dangerous.”
Immigration has been a central issue of the campaign.
The SD doubled its seats in the 2014 election and it is predicted to double them again in this election.
“Dark forces are mobilising in Sweden,” Mr. Löfven said in his final rally on Saturday.
“The hateful forces are mobilising now in Sweden and agitating people against each other.”
SD leader Jimmie Åkesson countered that Sweden had been “an extreme country in many ways, not least when it comes to immigration” and that his plan to take in fewer migrants would be regarded as “normal politics in the rest of Europe.”
The SD was linked for years to neo-Nazis and other far-right groups, only entering parliament in 2010.
It has been working to rebrand itself, changing its logo from a flaming torch (similar to the one used by the UK far-right National Front) to a blue-and-yellow daisy, the colours of the Swedish flag.
Traditionally appealing to working-class men, it wants to attract more women and higher-income voters.
Mr. Åkesson, who became leader in 2005, says there is zero tolerance towards racism in the party and several members have been expelled.
Sweden’s economy is booming but many voters are concerned that housing, healthcare and welfare services have come under pressure from a wave of immigration during the 2015 migrant crisis.
That year, Sweden took in a record 163,000 asylum seekers – the highest such intake in the EU, per head of population.
Sweden’s traditional parties have since hardened their tone to reflect concerns about integration.
Many voters are also concerned about violence.
The SD links a rise in shootings to increased immigration, although official figures show no correlation.
The SD also wants to leave the European Union and has proposed a “Swexit” referendum.
However, the powerful centrist parties all oppose such a vote, so it is unlikely to go ahead.
Aside from immigration, climate change is an issue many Swedes care about – particularly after a long, hot summer and severe forest fires.
During the heat wave, around 25,000 hectares of forest burned in wildfires and many farmers were forced to destroy livestock after their pasture land dried up.
Support for the Green Party, which had been struggling after various internal scandals, has crept up across the country.
The Left Party is making gains too, from the environmentally concerned and from centre-left voters dissatisfied with the mainstream parties’ approach to migration.
Prime Minister Lofven currently heads a minority, centre-left coalition government made up of his Social Democrats and the Green Party.
In recent years there has been a fall in support for the Social Democrats and the largest traditional opposition party, the centre-right Moderates.
However, polls suggest that the Social Democrats are narrowly ahead of other parties and may be in a position to lead another minority government.
Both the Social Democrats and the Moderates have said they will not enter a coalition with the SD, however well they perform.
Egypt sentences hundreds over 2013 pro-Morsi protests
Egypt has delivered verdicts for more than 700 people over a pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-in after President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in 2013.
The court confirmed 75 people’s death sentences and life imprisonment for 47 others, including Islamic leaders.
Rights group, Amnesty International, has called the trial “grossly unfair” and a violation of Egypt’s constitution.
Violence erupted at the 2013 protest in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya square, with hundreds killed by security forces.
Earlier this year, Egypt’s parliament gave military officers immunity for the deadly crackdown and any crimes committed between July 2013 and January 2016.
Those who were sentenced in the mass trial were accused of security-related offences including incitement to violence, murder and organising illegal protests.
The 75 death sentences were handed down in July and Saturday’s confirmation of them and the additional verdicts mark the end of the mass trial.
Prominent members and politicians in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation were among those sentenced to life, including its Supreme Guide, Mohammed Badie.
Also indicted was award-winning photo-journalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, better known as Shawkan, who received a five-year prison sentence.
He was detained while taking pictures of the dispersal of the demonstration.
He is expected to now walk free after having spent five years in jail pending trial.
Hundreds of people were arrested when the Egyptian army and police dispersed the pro-Morsi protest, which took place a month after the democratically-elected former president was ousted by the then military chief and current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
READ ALSO: Foreign Titbits: Syria war: ‘Russian strikes’ target Idlib as offensive looms
Syria war: Idlib rebels targeted by ‘fiercest raids in weeks’
Syria and Russia have carried out their most intensive air raids in weeks on rebel positions in the northern province of Idlib, activists say.
They say strikes targeted eastern and southern parts of Idlib, as well as the bordering province of Hama.
Idlib is the last major rebel-held area in Syria and government forces, backed by Russia, are poised to attack.
On Friday the leaders of Russia and Iran rejected calls for a truce despite fears of a humanitarian disaster.
On Saturday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring body, and the opposition-affiliated Idlib Media Centre said government helicopters had dropped 19 barrel bombs on targets in Idlib and northern Hama, and Russian warplanes had staged 68 strikes.
The SOHR said that the raids were the “most violent and heaviest” since 10 August.
Four civilians, including two children, were killed in just two strikes in southern Idlib, it said.
The province is the last stronghold of the rebels and jihadists who have fought the Syrian authorities for the past seven years.
Idlib straddles major highways across Syria and if it is retaken by the government, the rebels would be left with just a few isolated pockets of territory.
North Korea to stage military parade and mass games
North Korea is preparing to stage a military parade this weekend along with its first mass games in five years to mark its 70th anniversary.
The parade will be closely watched for clues about North Korea’s weapons arsenal and professed commitment to denuclearisation.
A large display of ballistic missiles would be widely seen as provocative.
The Arirang Mass Games, meanwhile, are an elaborate propaganda spectacle with enormous co-ordinated displays.
Relations between North Korea and the US have been under strain since the landmark June meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
Observers say the military parade could cast doubt on North Korea’s sincerity about denuclearising and pausing its missiles programme.
Previous parades have put tanks, missiles and tens of thousands of military personnel on show.
But analysts say it’s not about how many soldiers or how much weaponry will be on display – but what kind.
“The most important part here is whether we will see any intercontinental missiles (ICBMs) at the parade and if so, how many of them,” Fyodor Tertitskiy of NK News told the BBC.
ICBMs, which can reach the US mainland – potentially carrying a nuclear warhead – are of huge concern internationally.
Mr. Tertitskiy thinks North Korea has no plans to give up its missiles, “but should they show the missiles at the parade, it would be a good sign to show that they don’t even pretend that they do.”
“That would indicate that the talks with the US are coming to a breakdown.”
