Country heads to the polls as latest polling shows 0.3-point gap between left and right wing blocs
There are 349 seats in the parliament, so theoretically it’s a race to 175 when it comes to securing a majority in the Riksdag. But it’s a bit more complicated than that.
It’s a proportional representation system, but to get in, you need to clear a 4% threshold – and that is particularly relevant for the Liberal party, which the current PM is likely to need to stay in power.
“If there’s a prime minister proposed, then if there is the absence of an absolute majority in parliament against the proposal, it’s interpreted as support. So a party that doesn’t really want to give full support to this proposed candidate – maybe because it’s not going to be part of the coalition, but which can just about live with it, and doesn’t have a better alternative – it can abstain from the vote, and that’s counted as passive support. This makes it much easier to form minority governments.”
“But it’s it’s worth remembering that nearly every, almost by definition, minority government eventually rests on a parliamentary majority, and these parliamentary majorities are usually not always, but usually fairly stable.
This was the story of the last four years, with a minority government, but they had a very elaborate Tidö deal with the Sweden Democrats, which meant that there was a de facto majority in parliament.
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/sep/13/sweden-general-election-social-democrats-magdalena-sweden-democrats-ulf-kristersson-andersson-far-right-europe-latest-news-updates
Author : Jakub Krupa in Stockholm
Publish date : 2026-09-13 15:57:00
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