Sweden election too close to call as blocs split parliament by one seat

Sweden's national election was too close to call early Monday, with preliminary results handing the left-wing opposition a one-seat advantage over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing coalition and leaving the outcome uncertain until final ballots are counted later this week.

With 90% of votes tallied, the Swedish Election Authority put the four opposition parties on course for 175 seats in the 349-seat parliament, against 174 for the governing alliance. The authority stressed that the figures remain preliminary.

Speaking at an election night event in Stockholm, Kristersson said the narrow margin was not unexpected. "To me the result isn't that surprising," he said, adding that the race was "extremely narrow, perhaps so narrow that we cannot simply say yet who has won and who has lost." He said the final result would probably arrive on Wednesday.

The contest may not be settled until then, when local election boards count early votes that did not reach polling stations by Election Day, including ballots cast overseas.

The preliminary lead favours former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's bid to return to office at the head of the left coalition. Andersson, whose Social Democrats have led most Swedish governments since World War II, served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election. Returning to office would require her to seal a coalition agreement with other parties.

Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 at the head of a three-party centre-right coalition, which relied on outside support from the Sweden Democrats for a parliamentary majority. The anti-immigration party, which has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream, had been promised Cabinet posts this time if the governing coalition were returned to office.

With the result still open, Kristersson said he would examine other options once the count is complete. "When we have the final result it's a good idea to have another look at possible combinations," he said, pointing to what he described as a clear non-socialist, or non-left-leaning, economic majority in the parliament. He said he would take note of that and determine whether any possibilities exist.

Swedish politics is structured around two major blocs of four parties each, so the central question is less which party finishes first than which side can assemble a majority. Individual parties need at least 4% of the vote to win parliamentary seats.

With broad consensus in Sweden on issues such as support for Ukraine and the country's decision to join NATO, much of the campaign discussion centred on whether the anti-immigration hard right would enter government. The Sweden Democrats' role drew particular attention amid gains for the populist right elsewhere in Europe, including the first-place finish by the far-right Alternative for Germany in a regional election there on September 6.

Founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis, the Sweden Democrats toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under leader Jimmie Åkesson, who has headed the party since 2005 and overseen its growth from a marginal force.

More than 8 million people in the country of about 10.6 million were eligible to vote.