Sunday 09 September 2018 10:13 pm

Sweden in deadlock after polls show leading blocs neck-and-neck

Sweden's centre-left and centre-right blocs are in a dead heat after an election in which the far-right Sweden Democrats were set to become the second-largest party in the historically liberal country.

Partial results, with 80 per cent of districts counted, showed the ruling centre-left Social Democrats, headed by Stefan Lofven, and Greens and their Left Party allies with 40.6 per cent of the vote, with the opposition centre-right Alliance on 40.1 per cent.

The Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party with roots in white supremacy, moved to 17.8 per cent from 12.9 per cent in the previous election, leaving them holding the balance of power – although with a smaller vote share than some expected.

The rise of nationalists in Sweden mirrors that of Germany where the far-right Alternative for Germany swept into the Bundestag last year with 12.6 per cent of the vote.

The Sweden Democrats have capitalised on widespread worries about refugees and immigration.

In 2015 163,000 asylum seekers moved to Sweden, the most in Europe in relation to the country's 10m population.

The record number of asylum seekers in 2015 was also coupled with fears that Sweden’s welfare state was under pressure as waiting times for critical operations lengthened and shortages of teachers and doctors became acute.

So far the mainstream parties have refused to co-operate with the Sweden Democrats.

Nevertheless, their leader Jimmie Akesson told a party rally: “We will gain huge influence over what happens in Sweden during the coming weeks, months and years”.

Akesson said the vote was a choice between immigration and welfare in what was a bad-tempered campaign.

Voting in Stockholm, student Katze Collmar, 32, said the campaign had been “really unpleasant”:

With the centre-left and centre-right blocs neck-and-neck, forming a government could take weeks of negotiations.