Swedish voters head to the hustings as political parties locked in tight race

DPACopenhagenVoting is under way in Sweden in what is set to be a tight race between the ruling centre-left Social Democrats and conservative parties.An opinion poll published at the weekend by the Aftonbladet newspaper saw Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrat camp at 49.6% of the vote and the conservative bloc, which includes the right-wing, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, at 49.4% of the vote.Andersson cast her vote in the morning in Nacka, a municipality to the south-east of Stockholm.Earlier on Sunday, Andersson had stressed to reporters that she was ready to work with all parties except the Sweden Democrats.She was very disappointed that other parties had decided otherwise, she was cited as saying by Swedish Radio.The first forecasted results are expected immediately after polls close at 8pm (1800 GMT). The first partial results are then set to be published by the electoral authority in the course of the evening.Based on the turnout of the last general election in 2018, the camps were only separated by around 13,000 votes."It is completely even,” said Karin Nelsson, head of the polling institute Demoskop.Other recent surveys have painted similar pictures. The public broadcaster SVT saw Andersson’s bloc at 49.7% and her rivl Ulf Kristersson’s at 49.4%. The daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter had Andersson’s bloc at 50% and Kristersson’s at 48.2%.A dead heat outcome would set the stage for complicated government formation talks, presumably led either by Andersson or Kristersson, a political veteran who heads the centre-right Moderate party.Andersson currently leads a minority government of just her Social Democrats. The party relies on support of the liberal Centre Party, the Left and the Greens in Stockholm’s 349-seat Riksdag.Kristersson recently began aligning his interests with the right-wing populists - and for good reason. The Sweden Democrats are predicted to overtake the Moderates and take more than 20% of the vote, giving them unprecedented power to shape the government.The election campaign had been dominated by two issues: the sharp rise in energy prices and rampant gangland crime.Almost 7.8 million people are eligible to vote between 8 am and 8 pm (0600 to 1800 GMT). Initial results are expected shortly after polls close.