Sweden’s left wins razor-thin election victory
Four days after voting ended in one of the closest elections in Swedish history, the count is finally done, pointing to a new center-left government and a comeback for former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Her Social Democrats, as expected, won the most seats in Sweden’s 349-member parliament, but she requires the support of the three other parties in her left bloc to achieve a majority.
That may not be easy as two of these potential allies are at odds: The Left Party has named its price as having ministers in the government — and that’s something the liberal Center Party says it cannot accept.
Talks are likely to last weeks. The earliest a new prime minister can be sworn in is Sept. 29. Barring an unlikely unravelling of those negotiations, the result heralds the end of conservative Ulf Kristersson’s hopes of holding onto his job as prime minister.
The Swedish Election Authority’s final tally of the preliminary vote count gives Andersson’s left bloc 176 seats to Kristersson’s 173.
The full count caps a bad election for the Sweden Democrats, Kristersonn’s far-right allies, who were hoping to enter power as ministers for the first time but lost votes, seats and influence instead.
