Key facts
- Sweden's ruling right-wing bloc has closed in on the center-left opposition ahead of the September 13 parliamentary election.
- A Demoskop poll shows 50.6% support for the four center-left parties and 47.3% for the three-party government and its support party.
- The gap of 3.3 percentage points is the second-smallest recorded this year.
- The Liberals, a junior coalition partner, are polling at 2.8%, below the 4% parliamentary threshold.
- If the current polling holds, the right would take 163 seats and the center-left 186 seats.
Sweden's upcoming parliamentary election on September 13 is shaping up to be a close contest, according to a new opinion poll released by Demoskop for the dailies Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet. The ruling right-wing bloc has significantly narrowed the gap with the center-left opposition, a shift from earlier surveys that had predicted a more comfortable victory for the opposition led by Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson.
The latest poll shows the four center-left parties garnering 50.6% support, while the three-party government and its key support party, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, stand at 47.3%. This 3.3 percentage point difference is the second-narrowest margin seen in Swedish polls this year, compared to a 5.8 point gap in Demoskop's previous survey. Two weeks prior, a different agency's poll indicated a 10 percentage point lead for the center-left, which was then considered a nearly insurmountable advantage.
However, the new poll also highlights challenges for the government coalition. The Liberals, a junior partner, are polling at 2.8%, falling short of the 4% threshold required to secure parliamentary seats. Factoring in this potential loss, the right-wing bloc would secure 163 seats, while the center-left bloc would take 186 seats. Demoskop surveyed 1,998 voters between August 25 and September 1.