SWEDEN ELECTION TOO CLOSE TO CALL AS LEFT BLOC NARROWLY LEADS

Sweden's general election result remains too close to call, with Magdalena Andersson's centre-left opposition holding a narrow lead over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing coalition. With around 90 to 94 percent of votes counted on the night, the four-party opposition bloc was on course for roughly 176 seats against 173 for the governing bloc in the 349-seat parliament, according to the Swedish Election Authority. Andersson told supporters that her coalition was leading the count and that "Sweden will get a new government" if the results held. Kristersson said he would contact other party leaders once final results were in and that it remained an open question who would govern Sweden, while noting what he described as a clear non-socialist majority in parliament. A final result is not expected before Wednesday at the earliest, when authorities are due to count votes that had not arrived by election night.

Andersson's Social Democratic Party, which governed Sweden for most of the 20th century and remains the country's largest, was on track for around 28 percent of the vote, its worst performance in more than a century and down roughly two percentage points from 2022. The Sweden Democrats, led by Jimmie Akesson and part of Kristersson's governing alliance, took about 17.6 percent, down from 20.5 percent in 2022, falling behind Kristersson's Moderates into third place. Akesson said the party had lost ground compared with four years earlier but said it was a success that supporters were no longer reluctant to show their backing. The party, which entered parliament in 2010, has acknowledged it was founded partly by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the 1980s and says it has since removed such figures from its ranks.

The outcome could determine whether Kristersson's efforts to tighten migration policy continue, though it is unlikely to alter Sweden's pro-Western and pro-Ukraine foreign policy stance. Kristersson had pledged to bring the Sweden Democrats into government with cabinet posts had his bloc won, breaking a long-standing taboo on formal coalition with the party. Andersson said she would attempt to form a government with the other three left-leaning parties if the opposition's lead was confirmed, and Kristersson said he would respect that attempt. Akesson said on election night that it was not yet clear who would form the next government.