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Sweden’s Social Democratic Party Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson accepted defeat on Wednesday after a tight election, leaving the four-party right-wing opposition bloc to victory and first set out to form a new government.
A handful of votes are still to be counted, but Anderson, who became Sweden’s first female prime minister last year, said the results showed the right-wing bloc winning.
“In parliament, they have an advantage of one or two seats,” Anderson told a news conference. “It’s a slim majority, but it’s a majority.”
Anderson said she would ask the speaker on Thursday to relieve her of her duties as prime minister.
Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson is the right-wing candidate for prime minister.
“I will now begin to form a new government that can get the job done, a government that serves all Sweden and all citizens,” Christerson told reporters.
Moderates, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have been leading by one seat after Sunday’s election but look to have secured 176 of the 349 seats in parliament, compared with 173 for the centre-left, according to the latest figures from electoral authorities. seats.
The results are still subject to official confirmation, possibly before the weekend.
The election marked a watershed moment in Swedish politics, with the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, shunned by all major parties when they first entered parliament in 2010, are about to gain influence over government policy.
Anderson said she understands many Swedes’ concerns that a party rooted on the fringes of white supremacy is now the country’s second-largest party.
“I see your concern and I share it,” she said.
The Sweden Democrats look set to win 20.6% of the vote, beating the moderates with 19.1% to become the biggest party on the right.
Despite Christerson’s smaller party, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson has not been able to secure the broad right-wing support needed to overthrow the Social Democrats.
Kristersson is a minority and faces many challenges.
Sweden is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and could be headed for recession next year.
The war in Ukraine has destabilized the Baltic region — Sweden’s backyard — and uncertainty remains as to whether Turkey will eventually agree to Stockholm’s bid to join NATO.
Measures to tackle climate change and long-term energy policy also need to be tackled thoroughly, along with filling holes in the welfare system exposed by the pandemic and funding a planned surge in defense spending.
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