A country divided in half which, whatever happens, will not be easy to govern. The Swedish elections saw the unexpected slowdown of Jimmie Akesson's Swedish Democrats and the narrow victory of the centre-left coalition, which currently can count on three more seats than the centre-right in the Riksdag, the national parliament.
A minimal gap which is further reduced if we consider that, this being the case, the centre-left would only have one seat more than the absolute majority. Will it be enough? Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson promised that "Sweden will have a new government." But only on Wednesday, when the results of the vote of Swedes abroad and municipalities still behind in Stockholm arrive will the picture be clear.
In the hours following the count, the Social Democrats immediately called a meeting to evaluate the next steps. The coalition led by Andersson is firmly led by the Social Democrats with 28.1% (which still represents a step back compared to 30.3% in 2022), followed by the Left with 8.3%, the Center with 7.1% and the Greens with 6.1%. Bringing together the Party of the Center - which sits among the Liberals in Europe - and that of the Left will be anything but simple for Andersson, and in recent days both parties have expressed more than one doubts about it. Forming a government could take several weeks, if not months.
The secretary of the Social Democrats, Tobias Baudin, however confirmed that he had exchanged messages with representatives of the other parties and, when asked about possible differences, declared that he was "absolutely convinced" that an agreement will be found in a spirit of compromise. "We Social Democrats will always be ready to assume our responsibilities", added Andersson, addressing the militants on an election night marked by enthusiasm.
A night with an exceptional guest, Benny Andersson. The Abba composer sat down at the piano and began to play the famous Mamma Mia, replacing the two words with "Magdalena", the social democratic leader's first name. And even in Europe the centre-left's performance certainly did not go unnoticed. "A strong signal that people want a policy based on solidarity, equality and a strong welfare state. A progressive Sweden is good news for all of Europe. It's time to return to being leaders", underlined the leader of the EU Socialists Iratxe Garcia Perez.
Yet, with 94% of the votes counted, the difference between the two blocks is only 28 thousand votes. And outgoing prime minister Ulf Kristersson has no intention of proclaiming his opponents' victory before Wednesday. "I'll take it with enough serenity, then I'll make a few phone calls. We have a stable government, currently in office, capable of solving all the problems we're experiencing at the moment", underlined Kristersson who, already in 2022, had been mistakenly given up as defeated by the exit polls.
The leader of the Moderates can however say he is satisfied. His party remained first within the centre-right, with 19.9%, followed at 17.5% by Akesson's Sweden Democrats.
The anti-migrant far-right, which the polls showed was on the rise towards the government, in the end missed the expected exploit, losing three points compared to 20.5% in 2022. "It is clear that we have lost a few percentage points. However, I believe that in this electoral campaign we were the winners", said Akesson, trying to dampen the disappointment of the militants.
For some, it may have been the 'tactical vote' reserved by centre-right voters for the Liberals, the smallest of the coalition parties: they risked not exceeding 4% but in the end they reached 5.4%. The black wave, however, stopped in Scandinavia.
