Sweden's parties to negotiate after close elections with far-right gains

Resisting calls to resign from the Moderates center-right alliance, who took a provisional 19.3 percent of the vote, Swedish Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said he would stay in his post for the next fortnight until the new parliament opens.

"The voters have made their choice, now it's up to all of us decent parties to wait for the final result and then negotiate (and) cooperate to move Sweden forward in a responsible way," Lofven said. He would "work calmly as prime minister with respect to the voters and Sweden's electoral system."

He called on the centrist Alliance to discuss a "cross-bloc cooperation."

With 99.8 percent of districts counted, Lofven's social democratic alliance with the Greens and Left Party had 40.6 percent of the vote. The opposition center-right Alliance had 40.3 percent. With just 30,000 votes separating the two groups, the 300,000 votes from Swedes living abroad and those who voted late will be key. They will only be reported on Wednesday.

Translated to seats in parliament, if the results are confirmed, Lofven's alliance would have 144 seats and the Alliance would have 142 in the 349 seat parliament, well short of the 175 needed for a majority.

Preliminary results from Sunday's election showed Lofven's Social Democrats with 28.1 percent of the vote, and a loss of 13 seats from the previous elections in 2014 which represents their worst result in a century. Lofven's Green party partners also saw their support fall, dangerously close to the 4 percent threshold for participation in the parliament.

This election is unlikely to pan out well for Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. His Social Democrats have dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s and effectively built up the country's welfare state. Now, however, the SAP is expected to record a low score. Lofven has been attacked by the right for his open-door migrant policy, and from the left for later slamming that door shut.

The far-right Sweden Democrats who rose from the white supremacist and neo-Nazi fringe, saw their share of the vote rise from 12.9 percent in 2014 to 17.6 percent in Sunday's poll. They had been expressing hopes of a result far higher but it still represents the largest gain by any party in the Riksdag.

If confirmed, the result translates to 63 parliamentary seats for the Sweden Democrats, up from 49 seats in 2014. Party chief Jimmie Akesson told members: "We will gain huge influence over what happens in Sweden during the coming weeks, months and years."

For his part, Lofven expressed disappointment: "I'm of course disappointed that a party (the Sweden Democrats) with roots in Nazism can win so much ground in our time."

Akesson and his party had made much of its opposition to Sweden's immigration policy which had seen 163,000 asylum seekers arriving in the country in 2015. While the number of asylum seekers has dropped since, concerns over pressure on the welfare system, a shortage of doctors and teachers and a rise in some kinds of crime have been main election issues.

Seeking an alliance

Center-right Alliance leader Ulf Kristersson called on Lofven to resign but pushed back against any idea of an alliance with the far-right.

"We have been completely clear during the whole election," Kristersson said of his four-party grouping. "The Alliance will not govern or discuss how to form a government with the Sweden Democrats."

The speaker of parliament is expected to consult party leaders and ask the one most likely to succeed to then form a government.