Voting Opens In Sweden's General Election

Stockholm: Polling stations opened Sunday in Sweden in what is expected to be a close general election that will see either the far right enter government for the first time or the left-wing opposition reclaim power.

Opinion polls have long credited the four parties in the left-wing bloc with a comfortable lead over conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's four-party alliance, which includes the Sweden Democrats.

But the gap narrowed to a dead heat in the final days of the campaign.

The leader of the opposition, Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, which governed the Scandinavian country for the better part of the 20th century, has pledged to bolster the welfare state and help struggling households cope with rising costs if the four parties on the left win a majority on Sunday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Kristersson has meanwhile vowed to focus on improving Swedes' everyday lives now that his government's clampdown on organised crime and immigration has achieved its intended results.

Kristersson has governed with the support of the Sweden Democrats for the past four years, and has promised the anti-immigration party cabinet posts for the first time if the four parties on the right win the election.

Voting stations will close at 8pm (1800 GMT) when exit polls will be published, with the first reliable results expected several hours later.

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