The Swedish Election Authority established the national elections network in October 2021. This network includes the Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Security Service, the Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency and the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency. The National Cybersecurity Centre Sweden, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority and the Swedish Tax Agency have also been part of the network since Q4 2025.

What does the national elections network do?

The national elections network enables government agencies to work together to safeguard the running of elections.
These government agencies meet on a regular basis and collaborate when necessary. They work more closely ahead of and during election years.

The aim is to:

• strengthen collaboration between government agencies to safeguard general elections
• identify short-term and long-term measures to strengthen election protection and establish a common approach
• coordinate the agencies’ efforts ahead of and during election years

Focus areas during the 2026 elections

Ahead of an election year, the national elections network addresses operational issues relating to the running of the elections, based on the needs identified by government agencies’ assessments of the threat landscape and the current situation in Sweden and worldwide.

For the 2026 elections, the focus areas include the following:

• cybersecurity
• collaboration on communication
• threat landscape and wider situation
• operational coordination

Collaboration within the EU

There is also collaboration between EU member states to detect and counter threats to elections.

The national elections network is Sweden’s point of contact for these collaboration efforts.

European cooperation network on elections (European Commission)

Government agencies included in the national elections network

The government agencies in the national elections network work on protecting elections within their respective areas of responsibility.

• The county administrative boards (representing 21 counties)
• Here’s how we’re working on the 2026 elections (Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency, in Swedish)
• Psychological Defence Agency
• National Cybersecurity Centre Sweden (in Swedish)
• The police’s work on the 2026 elections (The Swedish Police, in Swedish)
• Digital Services Act and elections (The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, in Swedish)
• The Swedish Tax Agency
• Collaborating to protect the elections (The Swedish Security Service, in Swedish)