- After counting about half of the votes, the conservative bloc, including the Sweden Democrats, is just ahead of the prime minister’s camp.
- A preliminary final result is not yet in sight.
The tight race for a majority in Sweden’s parliamentary elections has tipped in favor of the conservative camp of moderate leader Ulf Kristersson. Initial forecasts initially saw the side of the Social Democratic Minister President Magdalena Anderson just ahead.
Legend:
The Sweden Democrats are jubilant: According to forecasts, they will come to around 20.5 percent – they are on the way to a record result and will probably become the second strongest political force in the Reichstag in Stockholm for the first time.
Keystone/ STEFAN JERREVÃ¥NG
Polls had seen the two camps almost level even before election day. In the parliamentary election four years ago, the first forecasts sometimes deviated by several percentage points from the final election result – the moderates were able to overtake the Sweden Democrats in the end.
Partial results that the electoral authority wanted to publish gradually on the evening of the election could provide more clarity. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, the Scandinavian EU country is likely to face a lengthy government formation, as it did after the 2018 election, as the parties within the blocs also disagree on several issues.
Legend:
Magdalena Andersson casting her vote in Stockholm on Sunday.
imago / Alix Lorestani
The Swedish parliament in Stockholm has 349 seats. 175 mandates are therefore necessary for a majority. So far, Andersson and her purely social-democratic minority government have had to rely on the support of the liberal Center Party, the Left Party and the Greens in order to achieve precisely this extremely tight figure. The conservative-right bloc, led by moderate leader Kristersson, has so far held the remaining 174 seats.
Andersson, whose party is traditionally the strongest force in Sweden, was only elected Prime Minister of Sweden in November 2021, succeeding her party colleague Stefan Löfven and becoming the first woman ever. Under her, the country applied for NATO membership in mid-May as part of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In the election campaign, however, the sharp rise in energy prices and the rampant gang crime in Sweden were the most important issues.