The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1986.

90 songs had been submitted to Sveriges Television (SVT) for the competition; 10 of these were performed at the contest, which was held at Cirkus in Stockholm on 22 March 1986.

It was presented by Lennart Swahn and Tommy Engstrand and was broadcast on TV1.

No orchestra was used, and instead the ten songs were broadcast as music videos.

The five songs that qualified for the second round were performed live to backing track.