Sweden’s opposition bloc is expected to win the election with a one-seat majority over the ruling coalition. Published September 13, 2026 September 13, 2026 Results from Sweden’s high-stakes general election remain too close as vote counting continues, with early trends showing the center-left opposition holding a narrow lead over the right-wing government. stand, “Sweden will have a new government.” Recommended stories list of 3 itemsend of list Previously, voting ended at 8 pm local time (18:00 GMT). With 94.4 percent of votes counted, the center-left opposition was expected to win 176 seats in the 349-member parliament, the Swedish electoral authority said in its latest update on Monday, compared to 173 for the right-wing ruling bloc. However, Andersson’s party, which ruled Sweden for most of the 20th century and remains the country’s largest, also appeared headed for its worst result in more than a century with 28.1 percent of the vote. the vote, 2.2 percentage points lower than in 2022. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who leads the ruling coalition, said he would contact other party leaders after the results, adding that it remains an open question who will govern Sweden in the coming years. Keep this in mind and at least find out if there is a chance.” Swedish Democratic leader Jimmie Akesson said “we won’t know tonight” who will form the next government. The party won 17.6 percent, almost 3 percentage points lower than its 2022 result of 20.5 percent, and fell to third place behind Kristersson’s moderates. The count of late postal votes and votes cast at embassies Swedes abroad begin on Wednesday, and the final result is not expected until the end of the week. Polls earlier in the year had given the opposition bloc a lead of around 10 percentage points, but the race was steadily narrowing, and that lead had collapsed to just two or three percentage points in recent weeks, turning what seemed a relatively predictable election into a much closer contest. across Europe, where right-wing and far-right parties have been gaining ground. Last week, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 44 percent of the vote in a key state election, putting a far-right party within reach of power at the state level in the country for the first time since World War II, with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, the Sweden Democrats became the largest right-wing party in 2022 and a crucial source of parliamentary support for the minority government. Kristersson have remained out of the government until now. Kristersson announced in April that his conservative Moderate Party would be willing to join the ruling coalition if the right won a majority, which would give the Sweden Democrats cabinet positions for the first time.
