Swedish leader tackles crime, energy fears on campaign trail

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

NORRTALJE, Sweden (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is on the campaign trail a week before the national election. She traveled by bus Sunday to communities near Stockholm seeking to win over voters concerned over gang violence and electricity bills that have risen painfully since Russia invaded Ukraine. The election on Sept. 11 comes amid a sense of rising insecurity with a spate of shootings in Sweden making crime a key campaign issue. Russia’s war against Ukraine led Sweden and Finland to take the historic step of applying to join NATO this year. That step has reassured many and is so uncontested it hasn’t been an issue in the campaign before the election.