Two exit polls released when voting ended at 8 pm local time on Sunday gave the left bloc a clear advantage, putting former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on track to return to office. But public broadcaster SVT’s subsequent analysis of the results declared so far suggested the race was much closer, projecting Kristersson’s right-wing alliance to win 174 seats out of a 349-seat parliament, one less than the left-wing bloc’s 175 seats. Swedish broadcaster TV4 issued a separate forecast confirming that the results so far point to a nearly equal split: 176 seats for Andersson’s left-wing bloc and 173 for Kristersson’s right-wing alliance. For Andersson, such a close result would be a bitter disappointment. After being ousted from power four years ago, she had been seen as a virtual candidate to regain office. But his side’s double-digit lead in the polls evaporated in the final days of the race. “Swedish elections are always close,” Andersson told POLITICO early Sunday as he toured the Stockholm suburbs on his campaign bus. “When I was in Sweden, a lot of people I talked to said they see things the government has done and they like them, but there are also a lot of things they don’t like.” With the fate of the far right at stake, the vote is a defining moment for Sweden and will be closely watched elsewhere in Europe, where other nationalist parties are gaining ground.
