STOCKHOLM: Sweden voted on Sunday in a tightly contested general election that could either bring the far right into government for the first time or return the left-wing opposition to power.
Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told AFP he was optimistic that his four-party right-wing alliance, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, would emerge victorious.
If the bloc wins, Kristersson has promised the anti-immigration party their first-ever cabinet posts.
“I think there is a genuine enthusiasm for us being able to continue our important work,” the 62-year-old said after casting his ballot in his home municipality of Strangnas.
For much of the campaign, opinion polls gave a comfortable lead to the four-party left-wing opposition headed by Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson.
But the gap narrowed to a dead heat in the final days of the race. “It is now up to the Swedish people to decide which direction our country should take,” Andersson told reporters after voting in her home municipality of Nacka.
“Should we have a government entirely dominated by the Sweden Democrats, something that has never happened in Sweden before? Or should we have a government led by me, which will steer Sweden in a new spirit of cooperation?”
Her party, which governed the Scandinavian country for the better part of the 20th century and remains Sweden’s largest, has pledged to bolster the welfare state and help struggling households cope with rising costs.
