Image caption, Ulf Kristersson ByAmy Walker Published 5 minutes ago Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has resigned after his ruling right-wing bloc was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition in the country's general election.
He made the announcement in a post on X on Thursday afternoon, after preliminary votes from Sunday's election showed about 50,000 votes separated the two blocs in the country of about 10 million people.
Opposition parties led by Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats look set to win 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden's parliament.
Kristersson, a conservative, had been supported in government by the anti-immigration hard-right Sweden Democrats (SD), and had promised them cabinet jobs if he won the election.
His right-wing bloc looks set to win 173 seats in the Riksdag, according to data from the Swedish Election Authority.
The results will be subject to formal certification in the coming days and are expected to finalised this weekend.
In Sweden, there are two major political blocs - with four parties on the right and four on the left, so Swedes are used to coalition and minority governments.
The Green Party - about forming a government.
But discussions could drag on due to major differences between the parties on issues such as taxes.
After the 2022 election in Sweden, it took 37 days to form a government, while in 2018 it took 134 days.
Image caption, Sweden's centre-left opposition, led by the Social Democrats' Magdalena Andersson, has defeated the right-wing governing bloc The right-wing bloc is formed of Kristersson's Moderates, as well as the SD, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.
The SD had offered outside support to the current centre-right coalition, which had overseen a dramatic tightening of migration policy.
Kristersson had promised to bring them into government if he remained at the helm.
But in a surprise upset for the party, it lost support for the first time since entering parliament in 2010 - down three percentage points on 2022.
A preliminary vote count started after voting closed on Sunday evening and continued into this week.
On Wednesday, election committees began counting early votes that were submitted late, as well as votes from abroad that did not arrive before election day.
