Sweden shifts leftward in vote

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s Social Democrats were poised to return to power after a left-leaning bloc defeated the center-right government in a parliamentary election Sunday that also saw strong gains by an anti-immigration party.

With more than 99 percent of districts counted, the Social Democrat-led Red-Green bloc had 43.7 percent of the votes Sunday while the governing coalition got 39.3 percent, official preliminary results showed.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party more than doubled its support to 13 percent, leaving it with the balance of power in Parliament.

The result marks the end of an eight-year era of tax cuts and pro-market policies under Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who said he would also resign as leader of the conservative party. Many Swedes worried that his tax cuts have undermined the country’s famed welfare system.

Social Democrat leader Stefan Lofven, a 57-year-old former union leader, is expected to enter into coalition talks with the party’s main partner in the Red-Green bloc, the environmentalist Green Party, and potentially also the ex-communist Left Party.

But unless he’s able to recruit one of the center-right parties in Reinfeldt’s Alliance, he could face a situation where the Sweden Democrats and the Alliance jointly strike down key proposals.

“We are now Sweden’s third biggest party,” Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson told jubilant supporters. The once radical far-right party entered Parliament four years ago with 5.7 percent support.