Sweden’s general election remains on a knife‑edge as counting continues, with the incumbent right‑wing coalition losing ground.
Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson told supporters the opposition bloc is ahead, saying that if the tally holds “Sweden will get a new government.”
Polls closed at 8pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Sunday, reports Al Jazeera.
With 94.4 per cent of ballots counted, the centre‑left opposition was projected to secure 176 seats in the 349‑seat parliament, compared with 173 for the ruling right‑wing alliance, according to the Election Authority’s update early Monday.
Andersson’s party, dominant through much of the 20th century and still Sweden’s largest, appeared headed for its weakest result in more than a century at 28.1 per cent, down 2.2 points from 2022.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, leader of the governing coalition, said he would consult other party leaders once results are final, noting that “there is a very clear non‑socialist majority, or non‑left‑leaning economic majority in the Swedish parliament.”
He added, “When we have the final result, it’s a good idea to look at possible combinations.”
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson cautioned that “we will not know tonight” who will form the next government. His party dropped to 17.6 per cent, down nearly three points from 2022, slipping to third place behind Kristersson’s Moderates.
Late postal ballots and votes cast abroad will be counted from Wednesday, with the final parliamentary result expected by week’s end. Earlier in the campaign, polls had given the left‑wing bloc a double‑digit lead, but that margin narrowed to just two to three points in the final weeks, turning a seemingly predictable race into a close contest.
A win for Andersson would mark a rare advance for Europe’s centre‑left, as right‑wing and far‑right parties gain ground across the continent. Only days earlier, Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured 44 per cent in a key state election, putting a far‑right party within reach of state power for the first time since World War II.
The Sweden Democrats, rooted in the neo‑Nazi movement, became the largest party on the right in 2022 and have been a crucial pillar of Kristersson’s minority government.
Though excluded from cabinet until now, Kristersson announced in April that his Moderates would be prepared to bring them into a governing coalition if the right secured a majority, giving the party ministerial posts for the first time.
