Live blog - EU elections in Sweden 2014
The Local's live election blog brings you all the latest results, reaction and fun from the 2014 EU Parliament elections in Sweden.
11:23pm The Local Sweden now signing off. If you have any questions about the election results, why not leave a comment and we'll try to answer them on Monday.
A very short summary, however, is in order. Two main points to take home from the Swedish results:
- The Greens got so many votes they will now be the second largest of the Swedish parties in Strasbourg.
- EU newcomers the Sweden Democrats and Feminist Initiative both got into the parliament. The Sweden Democrats get two seats, the Feminists one.
11:11pm Sweden has now counted the votes from all but some hundred of 5,837 electoral districts and the results are:
Left Party 6.3 percent
Social Democrats 24.5 percent
Green Party 15.2 percent
The Liberals (Folkpartiet) 9.9 percent
Christian Democrats 6 percent
Moderate Party 13.5 percent
Sweden Democrats 9.8 percent
Pirate Party 2.2
Feminist Initiative 5.3 percent
It appears Sweden Democrats will get two seats (up from zero), Pirate Party will lose both its seats, and the feminists will get their first ever.
For full stats on seats, check tweet below (the figure in brackets represents the last term).
Sweden seats #EP2014 SocDem 6 (6) Green 3 (2) Mod 3 (4) Lib 2 (3) Centre 1 (1) ChristDem 1(1) Left 1 (1) SwedenDem 2 (0) Feminists 1 (0)
— Paul O'Mahony (@OMahonyPaul) May 25, 2014
11:01pm The European Parliament website has nice interactive graphics for anyone wanting to look into how the seats will fill out. Right now, it looks like the Christian Democrat group will be the largest. For more, click here.
10:39pm Fifty-one percent of Swedes voted. How does that compare to the rest of Europe? Ninety percent of Belgians and Luxembourgers voted, but only 13 percent of Slovakians did. Sweden was somewhere in the middle of the scale. Other countries where approximately half the voters turned up were: Ireland (51.2), Germany (47.9), and Denmark (55).
10:32pm Swedes elected to tick the box for their preferred candidate in droves - 52 percent, according to a SVT poll retweeted by the European parliament.
RT @svtdinrost: 52 procent valde att personkryssa: http://t.co/UvF1oU1j9U Gjorde du? #dinröst #Euval2014 #valvakan
— Europaparlamentet (@Europarl_sv) 25 maj 2014
10:30pm Don't forget that The Local Sweden has sister bureaux across the European continent. On the top right of our site you can pick any country - from Austria to Spain - to get more information on the vote count there.
10:24pm Södertörn University political scientists Nick Aylott said the Moderates had run out of ideas, which he believed was reflected in the votes, but said the main opposition party on domestic level - the Social Democrats - weren't much better off.
"The party itself is divided on the EU, they're never going to be comfortable with it. And they ran a dour and unenthusiastic campaign, which will never fire up voter enthusiasm," he said.
Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven
10:19pm The Moderates' top candidate Gunnar Hökmark said the results appeared bad for his party but said he was pleased with the increase in voter participation.
10:18pm With a predicted 7 percent of the vote, Feminist Initiative's Soraya Post appears to be headed to Strasbourg. She told the Expressen newspaper that the figure was "fantastic".
"This is historic on a global level," she said of a feminist party entering an elected assembly at this level, before she called Front National's gains in France "horrendous". She said her party could counteract the right by focusing on human rights. "We need to return to our democratic values."
10:13pm Sweden Democrats' Kristina Winberg tells the Expressen newspaper that the National Front in France wants "responsible immigration politics".
9:47pm Dagens Nyheter's chief political correspondent notes that despite the best last-minute efforts of the Moderates - with intensive campaigning from the prime, finance, and foreign ministers - this is the party's worse European Parliament vote ever. In 1995, when Sweden just joined, the Moderates got 23.3 percent of the vote, this time around it looks like it's going to be nearer to 13 percent.
The Moderates party secretary Kent Persson
9:39pm For our readers who understand Swedish, you may want to watch the televised Dagens Nyheter debate between Feminist Initiative's Soraya Post and the Sweden Democrats Kristina Winberg. Watch it here.
9:30pm Key predicted results:
- Greens set to be second biggest party, ahead of Prime Minister Reinfeldt's Moderates
- Feminist Initiative are on their way to Strasbourg
- Sweden Democrats, like the feminists, will get one or two seats, not entirely clear yet
- Bad result for the Social Democrats, who had set a target of 25 percent
The Sweden Democrats' two top candidates celebrate
9.36pm Cue walk the plank jokes as the Pirate Party fails to repeat its 2009 success. Seatless night for them, it seems.
9.29pm The projected results raise the possibility that the Greens and Left will be bigger together than the Social Democrats. Very bad news for the Social Democrats if they want to keep centrist voters.
9.16pm To set the government's woes in context, with 31% the Greens, Left and Feminists would be almost as credible a government as the Alliance if this result was repeated.
9.14pm Only 33.8 percent for the Alliance as a whole - a very low figure which calls into question whether they have a chance of forming another government in September.
9.12pm Some quite sensational projections in those figures.
9.05pm Public broadcaster SVT has just released its exit poll:
Left Party: 8.1 (+2.4)
Social Democrats: 23.7 (-0.7)
Green Party: 17.1 (+6.1)
Centre Party: 6.2 (+0.7)
Liberals: 9.5 (-4.1)
Christian Democrats: 5.1 (+0.4)
Moderates: 13.0 (-5.8)
Pirate Party: 2.5 (-4.6)
Sweden Democrats: 7.0 (+3.7)
Feminist Initiative: 7.0 (+4.8)
Others: 0.8 (-2.9)
9.01pm Evening all, exit polls on the way in just a moment.
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11:23pm The Local Sweden now signing off. If you have any questions about the election results, why not leave a comment and we'll try to answer them on Monday.
A very short summary, however, is in order. Two main points to take home from the Swedish results:
- The Greens got so many votes they will now be the second largest of the Swedish parties in Strasbourg.
- EU newcomers the Sweden Democrats and Feminist Initiative both got into the parliament. The Sweden Democrats get two seats, the Feminists one.
11:11pm Sweden has now counted the votes from all but some hundred of 5,837 electoral districts and the results are:
Left Party 6.3 percent
Social Democrats 24.5 percent
Green Party 15.2 percent
The Liberals (Folkpartiet) 9.9 percent
Christian Democrats 6 percent
Moderate Party 13.5 percent
Sweden Democrats 9.8 percent
Pirate Party 2.2
Feminist Initiative 5.3 percent
It appears Sweden Democrats will get two seats (up from zero), Pirate Party will lose both its seats, and the feminists will get their first ever.
For full stats on seats, check tweet below (the figure in brackets represents the last term).
Sweden seats #EP2014 SocDem 6 (6) Green 3 (2) Mod 3 (4) Lib 2 (3) Centre 1 (1) ChristDem 1(1) Left 1 (1) SwedenDem 2 (0) Feminists 1 (0)
— Paul O'Mahony (@OMahonyPaul) May 25, 2014 11:01pm The European Parliament website has nice interactive graphics for anyone wanting to look into how the seats will fill out. Right now, it looks like the Christian Democrat group will be the largest. For more, click here.
10:39pm Fifty-one percent of Swedes voted. How does that compare to the rest of Europe? Ninety percent of Belgians and Luxembourgers voted, but only 13 percent of Slovakians did. Sweden was somewhere in the middle of the scale. Other countries where approximately half the voters turned up were: Ireland (51.2), Germany (47.9), and Denmark (55).
10:32pm Swedes elected to tick the box for their preferred candidate in droves - 52 percent, according to a SVT poll retweeted by the European parliament.
RT @svtdinrost: 52 procent valde att personkryssa: http://t.co/UvF1oU1j9U Gjorde du? #dinröst #Euval2014 #valvakan
— Europaparlamentet (@Europarl_sv) 25 maj 2014 10:30pm Don't forget that The Local Sweden has sister bureaux across the European continent. On the top right of our site you can pick any country - from Austria to Spain - to get more information on the vote count there.
10:24pm Södertörn University political scientists Nick Aylott said the Moderates had run out of ideas, which he believed was reflected in the votes, but said the main opposition party on domestic level - the Social Democrats - weren't much better off.
"The party itself is divided on the EU, they're never going to be comfortable with it. And they ran a dour and unenthusiastic campaign, which will never fire up voter enthusiasm," he said.
Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven
10:19pm The Moderates' top candidate Gunnar Hökmark said the results appeared bad for his party but said he was pleased with the increase in voter participation.
10:18pm With a predicted 7 percent of the vote, Feminist Initiative's Soraya Post appears to be headed to Strasbourg. She told the Expressen newspaper that the figure was "fantastic".
"This is historic on a global level," she said of a feminist party entering an elected assembly at this level, before she called Front National's gains in France "horrendous". She said her party could counteract the right by focusing on human rights. "We need to return to our democratic values."
10:13pm Sweden Democrats' Kristina Winberg tells the Expressen newspaper that the National Front in France wants "responsible immigration politics".
9:47pm Dagens Nyheter's chief political correspondent notes that despite the best last-minute efforts of the Moderates - with intensive campaigning from the prime, finance, and foreign ministers - this is the party's worse European Parliament vote ever. In 1995, when Sweden just joined, the Moderates got 23.3 percent of the vote, this time around it looks like it's going to be nearer to 13 percent.
The Moderates party secretary Kent Persson
9:39pm For our readers who understand Swedish, you may want to watch the televised Dagens Nyheter debate between Feminist Initiative's Soraya Post and the Sweden Democrats Kristina Winberg. Watch it here.
9:30pm Key predicted results:
- Greens set to be second biggest party, ahead of Prime Minister Reinfeldt's Moderates
- Feminist Initiative are on their way to Strasbourg
- Sweden Democrats, like the feminists, will get one or two seats, not entirely clear yet
- Bad result for the Social Democrats, who had set a target of 25 percent
The Sweden Democrats' two top candidates celebrate
9.36pm Cue walk the plank jokes as the Pirate Party fails to repeat its 2009 success. Seatless night for them, it seems.
9.29pm The projected results raise the possibility that the Greens and Left will be bigger together than the Social Democrats. Very bad news for the Social Democrats if they want to keep centrist voters.
9.16pm To set the government's woes in context, with 31% the Greens, Left and Feminists would be almost as credible a government as the Alliance if this result was repeated.
9.14pm Only 33.8 percent for the Alliance as a whole - a very low figure which calls into question whether they have a chance of forming another government in September.
9.12pm Some quite sensational projections in those figures.
9.05pm Public broadcaster SVT has just released its exit poll:
Left Party: 8.1 (+2.4)
Social Democrats: 23.7 (-0.7)
Green Party: 17.1 (+6.1)
Centre Party: 6.2 (+0.7)
Liberals: 9.5 (-4.1)
Christian Democrats: 5.1 (+0.4)
Moderates: 13.0 (-5.8)
Pirate Party: 2.5 (-4.6)
Sweden Democrats: 7.0 (+3.7)
Feminist Initiative: 7.0 (+4.8)
Others: 0.8 (-2.9)
9.01pm Evening all, exit polls on the way in just a moment.
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