Alliance extends lead ahead of election: poll

The ruling centre-right Alliance coalition leads ahead of the general election in September, according to an opinion poll from Skop.

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The poll also shows that the Sweden Democrats would just clear the four percent limit to enter Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag.

The centre-right alliance leads by 3.9 percentage points at 48.6 percent compared with 44.7 percent for the red-green coalition, according to the poll, which was carried out from June 30th to July 15th. The results suggest that public opinion continues to veer towards the centre-right coalition compared with previous polls.

Support for the Social Democrats declined for the second poll in a row and now stands at 29.2 percent. The party has lost 4.5 percentage points in support since April. The ruling Moderates have the most support at 33.3 percent, even if support has slipped slightly.

However, Social Democrat party secretary Ibrahim Baylan is skeptical about the results.

"I think that one can take these kinds of summer polls with a grain of salt," he said. "However, I believe that there will be a smooth election and we will give it all we have to form a new government."

The nationalist Sweden Democrats are slightly ahead according to Skop's latest poll and would secure enough support to enter parliament if the election were held now. The Christian Democrats also straddle the minimum level of support to remain in parliament, matching the Sweden Democrats with 4 percent backing.

The Liberal Party has the backing of 6.6 percent in the poll, while the Centre Party advanced slightly to 4.7 percent. The Left Party has 5 percent of the votes, while the Green Party is supported by 10.5 percent. Changes were within the statistical margin of error.