Sweden's election too close to call, left opposition narrowly leads

With 90 percent of votes counted, four opposition parties led by Andersson held a one-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over Kristersson's right-wing alliance, which includes the far right Sweden Democrats.

"For now, we are in the lead. And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," Andersson told her supporters Sunday, after polls closed.

Her Social Democratic party, which ruled Sweden for most of the 20th century, was heading for its worst score in over a century, with 28 percent of the vote.

Kristersson said that if the result stood, he would respect Anderson's attempts to try to form a government with the three other parties on the left.

A final result is not expected before Wednesday at the earliest, when municipal election authorities will start counting votes that had not reached their destination on election night.

While unlikely to change the course of Sweden's pro-Western and pro-Ukraine stance, the election could decide whether Kristersson's push to clam down on migration continues.

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Kristersson also broke a longstanding taboo by pledging to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into the government.

The party, which entered parliament in 2010, had backed Kristersson's minority coalition, giving it influence over policy in exchange for support in parliament.

Kristersson has now promised key cabinet posts, in case of a right-wing win, though the Sweden Democrats appear to have lost support, with just 17.6 percent of the vote, down from 20.5 percent in 2022.

"We don't yet have the full election result, but it's obvious that we've lost a few percentage points compared with our result four years ago," party leader Jimmie Akesson told an election night watch party.

But he said it was a success that supporters were no longer afraid to show their support for the party, which acknowledged it was founded in part by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the 1980s, though it says it has eliminated such extremists from its ranks and apologised.

"There are now so many more people around our country who no longer find it difficult to say that they are Sweden Democrats," Akesson said.

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Europe's far right parties would welcome any electoral success for the Sweden Democrats, following the Alternative for Germany's win last week in a German state election, and with en eye on the far right National Rally ahead of the French presidential election next year.

(with newswires)