Sweden’s national election was too close to call on Sunday, with a partial count by the election authority showing the opposition centre-left bloc holding a one-seat advantage that could potentially prevent the Nordic country from moving further away from its traditionally liberal outlook.
The bloc led by Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson was projected to secure 175 seats in the 349-member Riksdag, based on results from 4,853 of Sweden’s 6,312 electoral districts, according to the election authority.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing governing bloc was projected to win 174 seats, with counting still underway.
While the election is not expected to significantly alter Sweden’s pro-Western and pro-Ukraine foreign policy, it will determine whether Kristersson’s efforts to pursue tougher immigration policies and a broader shift toward the far right will continue.
Because the contest remains extremely close, the final result may take several days to emerge, particularly after overseas ballots are counted.
Before the election, Kristersson broke a longstanding political taboo by saying he would bring the Sweden Democrats into government as he seeks to form a right-wing majority coalition. The far-right party has historical links to the Nazi fringe.
Many right-wing voters believe a victory would validate policies credited with reducing gang violence and significantly lowering immigration.
However, other Swedes have expressed concerns that Kristersson’s decision to bring the far right closer to government has gone too far.
“I think it will be a long night,” said Maria Malmer Stenergard, foreign affairs minister and a member of Kristersson’s Moderate Party. “Maybe we won't even have the results until Wednesday when the votes that have been cast abroad arrive.”
Kristersson had remained behind in opinion polls throughout much of his four-year term but began narrowing the gap during the final weeks of the campaign, while Andersson and the Social Democrats saw their support decline.
Critics argue that the Kristersson government’s immigration policies, which combine incentives and penalties to encourage migrants to adapt more closely to Swedish cultural norms or leave the country, are weakening civil liberties.
A strong performance by the Sweden Democrats would likely be welcomed by Europe’s increasingly influential far-right movements, which gained momentum following the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany’s victory in a German state election the previous week.
Far-right parties are hoping to make further gains in elections across Europe, with the National Rally’s attempt to win France’s presidency next year potentially representing its biggest opportunity.
'DOESN'T LOOK LIKE SWEDEN'
While casting his vote on Saturday in Rinkeby, a suburb near Stockholm with one of Sweden’s largest Swedish-Somali communities, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said the area “doesn't look like Sweden”.
Sweden had long been regarded as one of Europe’s most welcoming nations for immigrants before Kristersson took office four years ago. Since then, his government has ended permanent residency for refugees, tightened welfare regulations and increased deportations of people who do not have the legal right to remain in the country.
The Sweden Democrats have acknowledged that their party was partly established by neo-Nazis and white supremacists during the 1980s. However, the party says it has removed extremists from its ranks and apologised for its earlier history.
Celebrations erupted at the Sweden Democrats’ election-night gathering after a new projection from Swedish broadcaster SVT showed the race was considerably tighter than the initial exit poll, which had placed the centre-left opposition at 51% of the vote.
“You cannot imagine how nervous I am right now. It feels like my life's work is hanging in the balance,” said Ludvig Aspling, a Sweden Democrats MP and the party’s immigration spokesperson. “It is going to be super tight. We still have a chance,” he added.
