Center-Left Wins Narrow Victory In Swedish Election; Alliance Leader To Tender Resignation Monday

The center-left carved out a narrow victory Sunday in Sweden, ousting the Alliance government that has governed for eight years. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt conceded, acknowledging the center-left gained the most seats in Parliament.
"So tomorrow [Monday], I am going to hand in mine and my government's resignation," Reinfeldt said. Reinfeldt said he also would step down as leader of the Moderates, the largest party in the Alliance, Reuters reported.
The center-left coalition -- Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party -- had garnered 160 seats, 15 shy of what's needed for an absolute majority, with nearly 5,000 of 6,000 districts counted, Reuters said. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats were expected to win 47 seats while the Feminist Initiative failed to gain the 4 percent threshold needed to win any seats.
Stefan Lofven, leader of the Social Democrats, said he's ready to start building a new government, Reuters said.
"We are in a serious situation. We have thousands of people unemployed. We have school results that are declining more than in any other OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] country," he said.
"There is something that is breaking. Now Sweden has answered that we need a change. We need a new direction."
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