The Swedish government said on Tuesday it would toughen criminal sentencing ahead of a September election, ​with legislation to push courts to more often ‌use the higher end of the punishment scale and impose longer sentences for serial offenders.

Sweden has grappled with a gang crime ​wave for the past two decades and, although ​shootings have come down significantly in the last four ⁠years, crime is still one of the most important ​issues for voters.

The Nordic nation has had a longstanding ​tradition of not adding up all the separate offences for a person convicted for several crimes, instead basing the sentence on the ​most serious crimes.

"That means that the fourth or fifth ​fraud and so on has, in practice, been free from punishment," ‌Minister ⁠of Justice Gunnar Strommer told a press conference, adding that, under the new proposal, all committed crimes would be taken into consideration.

"Our expectation is that this change will ​mean significantly ​longer sentences for ⁠serial offenders," Strommer said.

The government also said courts would no longer take mitigating circumstances, ​such as loss of employment, into consideration ​to ⁠the same extent when handing down sentences.

Sweden's right-wing government, which trails significantly in the polls, has introduced a large ⁠number of ​measures, including harsher sentences for ​gang crimes, increased electronic surveillance powers for police and prison for offenders as ​young as 14.

-Reuters