Voters in Sweden began voting on Sunday to elect a new parliament for the country, as polling stations will continue to open their doors until eight in the evening local time.

Preliminary results are expected as soon as the polling stations close, and the authority supervising the elections will announce the first partial results in the evening.

The opinion polls prior to the elections had shown a convergence of results between the two main political camps in the country.

The results of the polls suggest that the Social Democratic camp led by Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson will remain more powerful, while center-right moderate party leader Ulf Christerson hopes to succeed Anderson as prime minister.

The election campaign was dominated by themes supporting the fortunes of the right-wing opposition, such as the fight against crime, the bloody settlement of gangs, the problems of immigrant integration, and the sharp increase in fuel and electricity bills.

This year's elections take place in the midst of an unprecedented scenario that will witness either the establishment of a government supported by the extreme right or the left winning a third term, and the possibility for the traditional right to take over power with the support - either directly or indirectly - of the "Sweden Democrats" party has never appeared.

After it has been a pariah for a long time on the political scene, opinion polls expect this nationalist and anti-immigration party to come in second place for the first time in its history, which will make it the first force in a new bloc that includes all right-wing formations.

The latest figures predict the victory of the left-wing bloc led by the Social Democrats (Reuters)

Prime Minister's popularity

However, outgoing Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen has more chances than her conservative opponent Ulf Christerson in terms of confidence and centrist voters' fear of the far right, two factors playing in favor of the left.

The latest figures predict the victory of the left-wing bloc led by the Social Democrats, the first party in Sweden since the thirties, with the expected support of the Greens, the Left Party and the Center Party, with votes ranging between 49.6 and 51.6%.

As for the right-wing bloc - which includes the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates Party (conservative), the Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Party - its support ranges between 47.6 and 49.4%.

In the last two weeks of the campaign, Sweden's Democrats - led by its leader Jimmy Akesson for the fifth consecutive election - have overtaken the moderates in opinion polls with a 16 to 19 percent approval rating according to opinion polls, beating the record 17.5% it achieved in 2018.

As for the moderates - who ran for the second election led by their leader Ulf Christerson - their vote intentions fell to 16 to 18%, according to the latest opinion polls.

The position of prime minister in Sweden traditionally belongs to the first party in the victorious coalition, but the traditional right-wing parties oppose the appointment of ministers from the Sweden Democrats, and will more strongly oppose them as prime minister.

On the left side, there is also uncertainty about the composition of the new government that may emerge from it, as both the left and center parties oppose the other party gaining great influence.

About 7.5 million voters will vote in this election (Reuters)

political crisis

However, political experts rule out the possibility of a political crisis similar to the one that followed the 2018 elections, when hard negotiations took place that lasted 4 months to form the government, as the two camps are clear this time.

Proportional elections aim to award 349 seats in total, and only parties that achieve more than 4% of the vote get seats.

The appointment of a prime minister requires that he obtain an absolute majority of the votes in favor, provided that the number of opponents does not reach 145 votes.

About 7.5 million voters were invited to cast their ballots, but the voting process has already begun, as Sweden allows voting in advance, and participation is often very high in the country of 10.3 million people, and exceeded 87% in 2018, recording its highest level in 30 years.