Parliamentary election in Sweden: Opposition achieves narrow majority

Stockholm. In the parliamentary elections in Sweden, the opposition led by the Social Democrats won a narrow majority after all votes were counted.

According to the preliminary election results, the four parties that support the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson as Prime Minister together have 176 of 349 seats. In addition to the Social Democrats, the Left and the Greens, this also includes the liberal Center Party. The conservative camp made up of the previous three-party government and the right-wing populists was defeated with 173 seats. The final election results are not expected to be known until the weekend.

After the parliamentary election on Sunday, the race between the two political camps was initially so close that neither side could declare itself the winner. The last postal votes were only counted on Thursday. According to the preliminary count, voter turnout was 84.8 percent (2022: 84.2 percent).

The Social Democrats remained the strongest force in the Reichstag with 28 percent of the vote, but had to cope with a decline (2022: 30.3 percent) - just like the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats (17.5 percent; 2022: 20.5 percent), who suffered losses in a parliamentary election for the first time. The three government parties all gained slightly more votes, but still did not achieve a majority due to the poorer performance of the right-wing populists.

It is still unclear who can form a government with whom. Because this requires compromises on both sides. The Center Party had previously declared that it did not want to govern with the Left. The left had once again claimed a ministerial post if the Social Democratic-led camp had won. However, it is possible to work with one or more parties outside of a coalition. Minority governments are common in Sweden. Anyone who does not have an absolute majority against them in parliament can be elected prime minister.