Swedish election: centre-left coalition leads after all votes counted
The centre-left coalition is Sweden's largest bloc by a razor-thin margin after the preliminary election result was revealed on Thursday afternoon.
Just one seat separates the two main blocs in the initial result, with the votes set to be counted again and double checked before the final result is announced on Friday.
By Thursday afternoon, the red-green coalition (including the centre-left Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party) had 144 seats in total, while the centre-right Alliance (made up of the Moderate Party, Centre Party, Christian Democrats and Liberal Party) had 143. The far-right Sweden Democrats had won 62 seats.
Small adjustments have been made to the results, including one seat which moved between the Centre Party and Sweden Democrats on Wednesday during recounts, after one constituency submitted the wrong result. This reduced the Alliance's total number of seats to 142, but by Thursday the seat was again declared to have been won by the Centre Party.
Though the initial count is over, it is still far from clear what Sweden's next government may look like, with the current government intending to stay in place until parliament opens later in the month but the four-party Alliance saying it plans to seek a mandate to form a government.
"The Alliance is the government alternative which is clearly larger than the Social Democrats and clearly larger than the current government [comprising the Social Democrats and Green Party]," Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch Thor said at an Alliance press conference on Monday.
However, Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven pointed out that the Left Party are now part of the centre-left bloc, saying: "If they [the Alliance parties] adhere to the bloc policy, then it can't be that the smallest bloc will govern, that is completely illogical. How the government will look still needs to be decided by the final election result."
READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Swedish election
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Just one seat separates the two main blocs in the initial result, with the votes set to be counted again and double checked before the final result is announced on Friday.
By Thursday afternoon, the red-green coalition (including the centre-left Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party) had 144 seats in total, while the centre-right Alliance (made up of the Moderate Party, Centre Party, Christian Democrats and Liberal Party) had 143. The far-right Sweden Democrats had won 62 seats.
Small adjustments have been made to the results, including one seat which moved between the Centre Party and Sweden Democrats on Wednesday during recounts, after one constituency submitted the wrong result. This reduced the Alliance's total number of seats to 142, but by Thursday the seat was again declared to have been won by the Centre Party.
Though the initial count is over, it is still far from clear what Sweden's next government may look like, with the current government intending to stay in place until parliament opens later in the month but the four-party Alliance saying it plans to seek a mandate to form a government.
"The Alliance is the government alternative which is clearly larger than the Social Democrats and clearly larger than the current government [comprising the Social Democrats and Green Party]," Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch Thor said at an Alliance press conference on Monday.
However, Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven pointed out that the Left Party are now part of the centre-left bloc, saying: "If they [the Alliance parties] adhere to the bloc policy, then it can't be that the smallest bloc will govern, that is completely illogical. How the government will look still needs to be decided by the final election result."
READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Swedish election
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