Elections in Sweden: center-left ahead with 176 seats, vote count at 94%

With the preliminary count reaching 94% of the votes, while waiting for the remaining ones to be counted, the advantage of the centre-left coalition (opposition) in the parliamentary elections in Sweden is now three seats over the centre-right: this is shown by the projections of the public television SVT, based on official data.

According to the preliminary count, the bloc led by the Social Democrats would therefore obtain 176 seats in parliament, while the opposing bloc 173. None of the candidates in the running have so far proclaimed themselves the winner. The definitive results, explains the SVT, should be announced no earlier than Wednesday, once the votes cast in advance and those cast abroad have also been counted.

If the results are confirmed with respect to the current state of the ballot (94% of the votes), the centre-left coalition would secure an absolute majority (175 seats) with a margin of just one seat. The Social Democrats, under the leadership of Magdalena Andersson, reconfirmed themselves as the largest party in parliament with 28.1%. In second place are the centre-right Moderates led by outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, with 19.9%. The nationalist right, the Sweden Democrats (SD), is the third force with 17.6%, a result which, if confirmed, would represent a loss of 3% for the party led by Jimmie Akesson which so far, since it entered parliament in 2010, has continued to grow at every election.

In Sweden, the leader of the Social Democrats said she was ready to govern in the aftermath of the legislative elections. "We Social Democrats will always be ready to assume our responsibilities (...) for the moment we are in the lead. And if this fact is confirmed, then Sweden will have a new government", declared Magdalena Andersson addressing her supporters. According to the public broadcaster SVT, the left-wing parties would obtain 49.4% of the votes, equal to 175 seats, against 49.1% and 174 seats for the alliance between the right and far right, in power since 2022.

"The Swedish Labor movement remains united. It's not just the party but the trade unions and the Social Democratic Party together," Andersson continued. "Fight for workers' principles, have good salaries and maintain a concrete policy for working people", added the leader, highlighting the key points of the party which was and still remains the largest in Sweden. Speaking at the party's post-vote rally in Stockholm, Andersson stressed that the outcome will be neck-and-neck: "Regardless of what the final result is, this is a signal that we must try to cooperate between Swedish politicians. We must put Sweden and the Swedes first."

Ulf Kristersson believes that the question of the government's political orientation, which will emerge from the uncertain outcome of yesterday's legislative elections, "remains open". "We don't have a definitive result yet. The question of which government will lead Sweden in the coming years remains open," Kristersson said while preliminary results gave his coalition 173 seats against the left-wing opposition's 176.