The Swedish electorate have shifted to the left and elected Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven as Prime Minister, but the far right Sweden Democrats party also made significant gains.
On Sunday, the country’s ruling centre-right Alliance conceded defeat, but with 31.2% of the vote the Social Democrats will need a coalition to govern and have been left in a weak position after their preferred partner, the Green party, only managed to take 6.8%.
In his victory speech, Stefan Löfven said his “hand is outstretched” to the Green and “also other parties” to help him build a coalition of the left.
Löfven ruled out working with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats to build his coalition, but in doubling their share of the vote to 12.9% the far right were the big surprise of the elections.
Conceding defeat late on Sunday night, Prime Minister of eight years Fredrik Reinfeldt said:
“We didn’t make it…The election is over. Sweden has made its decision. And I will hand in my notice tomorrow. All these years under the Alliance have been fantastic”
