The nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD) have won about 18% of the vote, up from 12.9% in the previous election, BBC reports. Far-right party is a winner in the general election.
The main political intrigue in Sweden is finished, the country has become accustomed to coalition governments and no one was expecting an outright winning party in this election. According to the local media, the current coalition, headed by outgoing PM Stefan Lofven, is made up of his Social Democrats and the Green Party, and is supported in parliament by the Left Party.
However, the centre-right Alliance is made up of four parties: the Moderates, the Centre, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats. It was formed in 2004 to counter decades of dominance by the Social Democrats.
Traditionally, Sweden uses a system of proportional representation, under which each party is allocated a number of seats in each constituency that is broadly in line with its share of the vote. With 99% of votes counted, neither of the leading alliances has reached the threshold of 175 seats, which is needed to govern.
Mr Lofven’s bloc holds 144 seats and the Alliance holds one less. Overseas votes have not yet been counted and so final results are not expected until Wednesday. Lengthy negotiations will follow to attempt to form a workable government. One option could be for one of the parties to switch alliances.
At a party rally on Sunday night, Mr Lofven refused to quit.
“We have two weeks left until parliament opens. I will work on calmly, as prime minister, respecting voters and the Swedish electoral system,”
he said and added that Sweden could no longer cope with the influx and immigration laws were tightened.
