SVT reports that Sweden's centre-left opposition has edged out the incumbent right-wing bloc after 99% of ballots were tallied.
At 16:47 GMT the margin was 26,169 votes, with Magdalena Andersson's alliance projected to win 175 of the Riksdag's 349 seats versus 174 for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's bloc.
Election officials are still counting late ballots from home and abroad; the process may continue until Thursday, though a turnaround is considered unlikely.
STOCKHOLM, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Sweden's centre-left opposition has narrowly defeated the incumbent right-wing governing bloc, public broadcaster SVT reported on Wednesday after 99% of ballots from Sunday's parliamentary election had been counted.
At 16:47 GMT the margin between the two blocs stood at just 26,169 votes. With fewer than 1% of districts still to report, parties led by opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats appeared poised to secure 175 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, signalling a likely change of government.
“The likelihood of a turnaround at this stage is so low that we can confidently state that the opposition will secure the most seats in this election,” SVT said.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing governing bloc, which includes the far-right Sweden Democrats, was on track to win 174 seats, according to data from Sweden's election authority. The result is therefore one of the tightest in modern Swedish politics.
The election authority is continuing to count late-arriving ballots from domestic postal returns and voters overseas; it said the process could continue until Thursday before all ballots are finalised. That final count could still narrow the margin, but a reversal at this stage is considered unlikely.
The narrow margin underscores both the competitiveness of the vote and the influence of smaller parties in Sweden's multi-party system. Political analysts say coalition negotiations and parliamentary arithmetic will determine the next government's composition once the count is complete.
Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Anna Ringstrom and Terje Solsvik; editing by Niklas Pollard and Alex Richardson.
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