Left-wing parties lead by a minimal margin in Swedish elections

A coalition of left-wing parties, led by former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, is leading the parliamentary elections in Sweden by a minimal margin. Most ballots have already been counted, but the difference between the left and right blocs is so small that it is still too early to talk about the final results, writes the BBC.

After processing data from 98% of polling stations, Sweden's election commission predicts that the bloc of center-left parties, led by the Social Democrats, will secure 176 seats out of 349 in the new Riksdag, ensuring a majority of three mandates. Final results are expected on Wednesday.

The current right-wing Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, had hoped to form a government coalition, into which, for the first time in the country's history, he was prepared to invite the far-right "Sweden Democrats" — a party with neo-fascist roots.

Exit polls and initial voting results showed that the gap between the two blocs remained minimal. At certain moments, Kristersson's right-wing alliance even pulled ahead.

No one expects the election results to change Sweden's political course regarding Ukraine. After the start of the Russian invasion, Stockholm revised its long-standing policy of military non-alignment and joined NATO.

Significant disagreements persist between the parties of the left-wing alliance on economic policy issues, so a potential government coalition could prove unstable.

Kristersson also pointed out this circumstance, noting that, although he would respectfully consider Andersson's attempts to form a coalition, the question of the composition of the future government remains open.

"Even if the results we see tonight hold, I will still explore possibilities for a coalition based on a non-socialist majority in parliament to find a workable government configuration. What government will lead Sweden in the coming years still remains an open question," the politician emphasized.

Opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democratic Party (this political force governed Sweden for most of the 20th century) promised to strengthen the welfare state and help struggling families cope with rising costs if the four left-wing parties secure a majority of votes.

The incumbent conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated that his government's measures to combat organized crime and immigration had achieved results.

For the past four years, Kristersson has governed with the support of the far-right anti-immigration party, the "Sweden Democrats."

Before the elections, he promised to include representatives of this party in the cabinet of ministers for the first time if the four right-wing parties won the elections.

Until recently, the country's leading political parties preferred to have nothing to do with the "Sweden Democrats": the party's roots lie in the neo-Nazi movement of the late 1980s, and its rise in popularity coincided with a significant influx of immigrants.

In recent years, the popularity of the "Sweden Democrats" has gradually grown.

While they first entered parliament with 5.7% of the votes in 2010, they finished second in the last elections, gaining 20.6% (whereas the Moderate Coalition Party received just over 19% of the votes).

Since then, they have supported the current center-right coalition, under whose leadership migration policy has been sharply tightened, including the abolition of the right to permanent residence for refugees and an increase in the number of deportations.

However, deputies from this party have never held ministerial positions.

During this election campaign, the "Sweden Democrats" found themselves at the center of scandals, including accusations that one of the party functionaries spread pro-Russian narratives on social media.

The vote count results, to observers' surprise, show that the "Sweden Democrats" received less than in the previous elections: they now have 17.6% of the votes compared to 20.6% in 2022.

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