Sweden election too close to call, opposition leads by 3 seats

STOCKHOLM (AP) , Sweden’s national election was too close to call early Monday, with preliminary results showing a narrow lead for the left-wing opposition and days of uncertainty until the final ballots are counted. With 94% of the vote counted, the Swedish Election Authority reported the four opposition parties were heading for 176 seats in the 349-seat parliament to 173 seats for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing coalition, a three-seat advantage for the opposition.

The outcome of the election may not be decided until Wednesday, when local election boards count early votes that did not make it to the polling stations by Election Day. This includes overseas votes.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told supporters that “we must wait for the final election result” but added that “right now we are leading … But we have to wait for the final result.”

Kristersson said he would explore “possibilities” given the close result. “When we have the final result it’s a good idea to look at possible combinations,” he said early Monday. “There is a very clear non-socialist majority, or non-left leaning economic majority in the Swedish parliament. And I will actually take note of that and at least figure out whether there are any possibilities.”

Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson said that “we will not know tonight” who will form the next government. The party’s support slipped to just under 18%, down about 3 percentage points from its 2022 result, and it fell from second to third place.

Exit polls from public broadcaster SVT had initially shown the left-wing parties ahead by several percentage points. The exit polls set off jubilation at the Social Democrats’ election gathering, but the mood shifted to quiet waiting as the results indicated a closer race.

Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party center-right coalition that relied on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream. The Sweden Democrats had been promised Cabinet posts this time if the governing coalition were returned to office.

To return to office, Andersson would have to seal a coalition agreement with other parties. The center-left Social Democrats have led most Swedish governments since World War II. Andersson served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election.

There are two major political blocs, one with four parties on the right and another with four parties on the left, and individual parties need a minimum of 4% of the vote to win parliamentary seats.

With broad political consensus in Sweden on several major issues, including support for Ukraine and the country’s decision to join NATO, much election discussion focused on the possibility of the anti-immigration hard right entering government. The Sweden Democrats’ role was in focus against a background of gains for the populist right in Europe, including the first-place finish by the far-right Alternative for Germany party in a regional election there Sept. 6.

The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Åkesson, who has led them since 2005.

More than 8 million people in the nation of about 10.6 million were eligible to vote.

McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany.