Sweden's centre-left wins election

STOCKHOLM:

Sweden's centre-left opposition has defeated the incumbent right-wing governing bloc by the slimmest of margins, public broadcaster SVT said on Wednesday, after 99% of the votes in Sunday's parliamentary election had been counted.

Only 26,169 votes separated the two blocs at 1647 GMT, but with fewer than 1% of districts left to count, parties led by opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats looked set to win 175 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, signalling a 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.