Eve of election polls put opposition ahead in Sweden

The people of Sweden vote Sunday for a new government with three last-minute surveys showing the right-wing opposition narrowly in the lead. Opposition leader Fredrik Reinfeldt is campaigning to the bitter end. In a break with tradition, he says he will work the streets on election day itself: “My attitude is that this is going to be a tight race, and I will not stop campaigning till the polls close tomorrow”.

Reinfeldt’s four-party coalition says it wants to streamline Sweden’s welfare state. Prime Minister Goran Persson says the opposition is hiding its true intentions. Campaigning at a shopping centre in Stockholm, he called on voters to back his government’s inclusive social model. “We have ideas for the future. Soldidarity is timeless, it’s important, it’s alive,” he said. The race looks so tight the winner may not be known till Wednesday, after early votes and ballots from abroad are counted. Polls will close tomorrow at 8pm CET.

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