Left bloc on course for narrow win in Sweden

With more than 90 percent of votes counted, the left-leaning opposition bloc appears to be on course for the narrowest of victories over the incumbent right-wing alliance in Sweden's general election.

All votes will be recounted automatically, so the final definitive result is not expected until Wednesday, but Magdalena Andersson's Social Democrats appear to be the biggest party, with a vote share of around 28 percent, as opposed to the Moderate Party of incumbent Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, which has 19.9 percent.

As of Monday morning, with around six percent of votes uncounted, the Social Democrats had 100 seats, as opposed to the Moderates' 70, with other left-leaning parties and potential coalition partners tipping the balance in favor of the Social Democrats and giving the party what Swedish broadcaster SVT estimated as a 90 percent chance of victory.

"We Social Democrats will always be ready to assume responsibility for the result," Andersson told reporters on Monday. "For now, we are in the lead. And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government."

Kristersson was guarded in his use of language, saying: "The voters have had their say, but we still don't have a final result. Which government will lead Sweden in the coming years is still an open question, and we will do everything we can to ensure that this government will be the very best for our country."

This was in contrast to his words as he cast his vote on Sunday, when he said "I think there is a genuine enthusiasm for us being able to continue our important work".

Both the far-left and the far-right have lost support, reversing the trend seen in many elections across other parts of Europe recently, with the far-right Sweden Democrats, which had propped up Kristersson's government since the last election in 2022, seeing its vote share fall from 20.6 percent to 17.6 percent.

The Sweden Democrats party was founded in the 1980s by Nazi sympathizers and was a fringe party until 2022 when campaigning on immigration and violent crime saw it become the country's second-largest party. Kristersson had promised the party Cabinet posts if the right-wing bloc was successful at the polls, with its leader Jimmie Akesson reportedly keen to be migration minister.

However, Akesson was realistic about the outcome, saying: "It's obvious that we've lost a few percentage points compared with our result four years ago."

The voter turnout for the parliamentary election was 80.3 percent, 4 percent lower than at the last election.