Sweden's center-left opposition edges out right-wing bloc, SVT projects
STOCKHOLM, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Sweden’s center-left opposition narrowly defeated the governing right-wing bloc after 99% of ballots from Sunday’s parliamentary election had been counted, public broadcaster SVT said Wednesday, putting the country on course for a change of government.
With fewer than 1% of districts still to be counted, parties led by Social Democratic opposition leader Magdalena Andersson were projected to win 175 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag. The right-wing bloc led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, was tracking toward 174 seats, data from Sweden’s election authority showed.
At 1647 GMT, just 26,169 votes separated the two blocs—a margin so narrow that the final outcome could hinge on late-arriving ballots from voters at home and abroad. The election authority has said that count may continue until Thursday before all votes are accounted for.
“The likelihood of a turnaround at this stage is so low that we can confidently state that the opposition will secure the most seats in this election,” SVT said.
The projected result would mark a sharp reversal for Kristersson’s government and likely return Andersson, who served as prime minister before him, to the center of Swedish politics. But with only a one-seat majority, the opposition would have little margin for error in Parliament, where every defection or abstention could threaten its legislative agenda.
Sweden’s political landscape has grown increasingly fragmented in recent years, with the Sweden Democrats’ rise reshaping the right and forcing mainstream parties to negotiate across deep ideological divides. A center-left win would also be closely watched in Brussels and across Europe, where Sweden has been a strong voice on support for Ukraine and European security.
Still, the result is not final. The election authority is counting late incoming ballots from home and overseas, and official confirmation may not come until later in the week.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Anna Ringstrom and Terje Solsvik; editing by Niklas Pollard and Alex Richardson)