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Center-left opposition takes the lead in Sweden by a narrow margin, according to an SVT projection
The Social Democrats returned to first place and the far right lost ground. The count, however, showed a very tight contest between the two blocs.
Sweden’s legislative elections left a vote-by-vote battle this Sunday between the governing bloc and the center-left opposition, with a slight advantage for the latter according to a projection by public broadcaster SVT cited by El Mundo.
According to that outlet, SVT’s exit poll had initially given 51.3% to the bloc led by Magdalena Andersson and 46.8% to the right currently in power. But that gap narrowed as the count progressed.
With 41% of districts counted, the conservative bloc had 49.3% and Andersson’s bloc 49.2%. However, SVT’s national projection reversed that advantage and placed the opposition at 49.3% versus 49.2% for the governing bloc. That estimate assigned 175 seats to Andersson and 174 to Ulf Kristersson.
According to El Mundo, the Social Democrats remained the most voted force with 27.4%, although down by nearly three points. Sweden Democrats also fell, dropping to 17.8% and losing second place, overtaken by the Moderates with 19.7%.
The same outlet noted that the biggest gain went to the Left Party and that the Greens also improved their performance. The Liberals, meanwhile, reached 5.5% and remained above the 4% parliamentary threshold.
The day also marked the first setback for Sweden Democrats since their entry into Parliament in 2010, always according to El Mundo. Even so, their anti-immigration agenda shaped the public debate and constrained Kristersson’s government, in addition to pushing other parties, including sectors of the left, toward tougher positions on immigration and security.
Andersson celebrated the victory during the night, although she would still need to turn a four-party bloc made up of Social Democrats, Greens, the liberal Centre Party and the Left Party into an operational majority, amid lingering differences over taxes and energy, El Mundo reported.
Kristersson, for his part, had said during the campaign that he would formally bring Sweden Democrats into the government if his bloc won, a decision that, according to El Mundo, raised concerns among part of the electorate.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
