Swedish Left Bloc Edges Ahead of Kristersson
Swedish Left Bloc Edges Ahead of Kristersson
The News
Sweden's center-left opposition is in position to take power after Sunday's national election, with preliminary results giving it a narrow lead over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing coalition.
Sky News reported early Monday that the early count showed the left bloc ahead by a single seat.
By Monday morning, with most votes counted, Reuters reported the lead had widened to three seats and said the opposition looked set to form the next government.
The result is not final. The Independent reported that final numbers are not expected before Wednesday.
Timeline
Swedes vote in the national election.
Preliminary results reported by Sky News show the left-wing opposition with a one-seat advantage over Kristersson's right-wing coalition.
With most votes counted, Reuters reports the center-left holding a three-seat lead over the ruling right-wing parties and calls it the front-runner to form a government.
Local election boards count late-arriving postal ballots and votes cast from abroad. Final results are expected then, according to The Independent.
Reactions
No concession or victory claim has been reported in the early coverage of the count.
Reuters described the center-left opposition as being in "pole position" to take power. The Independent called the outcome knife-edge, stressing that thousands of uncounted postal and overseas ballots could still move the margin.
Kristersson's coalition has not been reported as conceding, and with the gap measured in a handful of seats, neither bloc has a result it can bank.
What's Next
The count continues. Late postal votes and ballots cast abroad get tallied by local election boards on Wednesday, and those are the ballots that decide a margin this thin.
If the center-left lead holds, the opposition will be first in line to try to assemble a governing majority — a process that, with a spread of only one to three seats, will depend on every party in the bloc holding together.
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Why Americans Should Care
Sweden is a NATO member and a US partner in northern Europe. A change of government in Stockholm would put a new set of leaders across the table from Washington on defense and trade questions — and it would end the run of a right-wing coalition that has been one of Europe's most-watched experiments in governing with a hard line on immigration.
Poll
Will the center-left lead survive Wednesday's final count?
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