Sweden’s election too close to call

‘OPEN QUESTION’: In a big surprise, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats lost support for the first time, garnering 17.6% of the vote, down from 20.6% in 2022

Sweden’s general election was too close to call early yesterday, as the incumbent prime minister and the left-wing opposition leader both said they were ready to govern and the far right was seen losing ground.

With more than 90 percent of votes counted, four opposition parties led by Swedish Social Democratic Party Chairwoman Magdalena Andersson, held a three-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing alliance, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

“For now, we are in the lead, and if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government,” 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden’s first female prime minister in 2021 and 2022, told her supporters.

Swedish Social Democratic Party Chairwoman Magdalena Andersson speaks during an election-night event in Stockholm on Sunday.

Photo: TT News Agency via AFP

However, her party — which ruled the Scandinavian country for most of the 20th century and remains Sweden’s largest — also looked to be heading for its worst score in more than a century with 28 percent of the vote.

Kristersson, whose Moderate Party was credited with 19.9 percent of the counted votes, said that if the result stood, he would respect Andersson’s attempts to form a government with the three other parties on the left.

However, he said that the four had irreconcilable differences, primarily between the Left Party and the Centre Party, and were unlikely to agree on a government program.

“I will therefore, even if tonight’s result stands, examine whether there are any possibilities within this non-socialist parliamentary majority to find some workable government constellation,” Kristersson told his supporters.

“Which government is going to govern Sweden in the coming years is still an open question,” he added.

In a big surprise, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, which entered parliament in 2010, lost support for the first time, garnering 17.6 percent of the vote, down from 20.6 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 Chairman Jimmie Akesson told an election night watch party.

However, he said it was a success that supporters were no longer afraid to show their support for the party long seen as a political pariah.

“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.

The final outcome might not be clear for a few days, several party leaders said.