The Social Democrats are likely to lead Sweden's new government after Sunday's general election, despite an electoral defeat where they lost roughly 2% of their support. This marks their worst result since 1908.
Their return to power is attributed to Swedish bloc politics and the victories of their probable coalition partners: the Left party, the Green party, and the Center party. These parties increased their support by 1.5%, 1.7%, and 0.4% respectively. Together, this left bloc holds a slim majority of three seats in the new parliament.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the far-right Sweden Democrats experienced their first loss in a national parliamentary election. However, their leader, Jimmie Åkesson, is not expected to face a backlash, as his support strategy has normalised the party within the right bloc.