Swedish election cliffhanger: Opposition ahead as final count continues
The centre-left opposition looks set to extend its lead in the parliamentary seat distribution compared to the incumbent Tidö parties, according to the latest figures from the Swedish Election Authority.
With 94 percent of voting districts counted, the Left Party, Social Democrats, Green Party and Centre Party are projected to secure 176 seats, while the Liberals, Christian Democrats, Moderates and Sweden Democrats appear to take 173 seats.
Overnight, the figures fluctuated between that distribution and a narrower 175-174 margin for the opposition, but the numbers appeared to stabilise during the early morning hours.
AS IT HAPPENED: The Local's live blog from Election Night
However, votes from late postal and overseas voters will be counted later in the week during the Wednesday count, meaning it could take some time before the final distribution of seats is clear. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: a lead – en ledning
Centre-left holds on to power in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö
The balance of power looks set to hold in the country's three largest municipalities, all of which are governed by centre-left coalitions.
In the city of Stockholm, the Social Democrats had dropped by around 3 percentage points to 26.3 percent as of 9am, while the Green Party increased by around 5 percentage points to 11.2 percent. The centre-right Moderates also show an increase, but the majority looks set to remain "red-green".
"It feels great, we're having our best election in ten years," Lars Strömgren of the Green Party, Stockholm's transport councillor, told the TT news agency.
In Gothenburg, preliminary figures show small changes. Here too, the Green Party had a strong election, up by 2.3 percentage points to 8.3 percent as of 9am. The Social Democrats look set to increase by around 1 percentage point to 27.6 percent.
"If that trend holds, it would be a success for Gothenburg, because then we haven't felt the same drop that we're seeing nationally," Social Democrat mayor Jonas Attenius told Göteborgs-Posten.
In Malmö, which has been governed by the Social Democrats, Liberals, and Green Party, the Left Party recorded a 3.6 percentage point rise as of 9am, to 17.2 percent. The Green Party also made gains, up around 3 percentage points to 8.6 percent. Meanwhile, the Sweden Democrats look set to drop below 12 percent. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: a municipality – en kommun
State-owned SBAB follows Danske Bank lead and hikes fixed mortgage rates
State-owned mortgage bank SBAB is following in the footsteps of Danske Bank by raising interest rates on mortgages fixed between one and ten years. The increase of 0.15 to 0.20 percentage points is attributed to higher long-term market rates.
"The recent rise in longer-term market rates has increased our funding costs, which means we now need to adjust our mortgage rates upwards. At the same time, we are also raising our long-term fixed savings rates by a corresponding amount, allowing our savings customers to benefit from the shift in current interest rates," said Mikael Inglander, CEO of SBAB, in a statement.
SBAB is leaving its variable three-month mortgage rate unchanged.
SBAB's increase follows Danske Bank's decision to raise its own fixed mortgage rates on Friday. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: to raise – att höja
Record turnout in Sweden's youth vote sees Tidö bloc lead shrink dramatically
The Moderates consolidated their position as comfortably the largest party in Sweden's national school mock election.
Despite this, there was a clear shift to the left.
More than 400,000 middle and upper secondary school pupils cast their votes in the 2026 mock election, with participating schools from 90 percent of the country's municipalities. Never before have so many voted in the school election, and turnout reached a record high of 82 percent. The mock election has no bearing on national politics, but is seen as an important indicator of youth preferences.
The Moderates received 32.7 percent of the vote, up from 27.1 percent in the 2022 school election.
The Social Democrats rose by 3.2 percentage points to 19.31 percent, the Left Party increased by 4.2 percentage points to 12.1 percent, and the Green Party went up by 2.8 percentage points to 7.5 percent.
At the same time, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats suffered heavy losses compared to 2022, both falling below the 4 percent parliamentary threshold. The Liberals received 1.2 percent (-3.2) and the Christian Democrats took 3.0 percent (-6.3). However, the Sweden Democrats lost the most ground, dropping by 7.0 percentage points to 13.8 percent.
The Centre Party also dropped, back down to 6.1 percent (-1.8).
"The Moderates and the Sweden Democrats combined are still barely 2 percentage points larger than the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Green Party, and the Centre Party. And that is the big difference: in the 2022 mock school election, the right-wing side was 25 percentage points larger," said Magnus Jägerskog, director general of the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society, which organises the school elections.
If the Christian Democrats and the Liberals – who fell below the threshold – are included, the gap widens to around 6 percentage points.
It is also worth noting that support in the school election for "other parties" surged, up 3.8 percentage points to a total of 4.3 percent. Behind those figures lies primarily the far-right Örebro Party at 2.6 percent, alongside the far-right Alternative for Sweden on 1.2 percent. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: the school election – skolvalet
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