Sweden’s center-left opposition bloc was on course to win the parliamentary election by the narrowest of margins, public broadcaster SVT reported after 99% of votes had been counted. Fewer than 1% of ballots remained to be processed, and the election authority was continuing to count late-arriving votes from domestic and overseas voters.
As of 1647 GMT, the opposition led by 26,169 votes, according to the supplied source text. Election authority data indicated that the center-left bloc was projected to secure 175 parliamentary seats, compared with 174 for the right-wing bloc led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
The opposition is led by Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, which governed Sweden for much of the 20th century. If the result is confirmed, it would mark a change of government from Kristersson’s right-wing bloc. SVT said the likelihood of the opposition losing its lead was sufficiently low to conclude that it would win the most seats.
A narrow seat advantage does not guarantee an immediate government. Kristersson and Andersson have both said they would be open to exploring coalition options, while the center-left grouping faces divisions between the liberal Center Party and the socialist Left Party. Those differences could complicate efforts to assemble a governing majority.
The counting of late ballots was expected to continue until Thursday. Parliament cannot vote on a new prime minister before September 29, leaving time for negotiations. The source text noted that forming a government took 37 days after the 2022 election, compared with 134 days after the 2018 vote.