STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden on Monday began a days-long wait for the final results of its too-close-to-call general election, with an unprecedented right-wing and far-right bloc in position to wrest power from Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's Social Democrats.

With 95 percent of votes counted on Monday, the right-wing led by conservative Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson was credited with an absolute majority of 175 of 349 seats in parliament.

Andersson's left bloc trailed with 174.

If confirmed, the Social Democrats would be out after eight years in power.

With the vote deemed too close to call, election authorities said a final result would only be ready on Wednesday, when the last ballots from abroad and from advance voting had been counted.

Big winner

The election's big winner was, however, the anti-immigration, nationalist Sweden Democrats party, led by Jimmie Akesson.

It was credited with 20.7 percent of votes, making it the biggest party on the right and the second biggest in the country behind the Social Democrats.

"It's looking pretty damn good now", 43-year-old Akesson told cheering supporters late Sunday.

The right bloc — made up of the Sweden Democrats, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals — were seen winning 49.8 percent of votes.

The left, comprised of the Social Democrats, the Left, the Greens and the Center parties, were meanwhile credited with 48.8 percent, trailing by around 47,000 votes out of 7.8 million eligible voters.
Prime Minister Andersson, 55, has refused to throw in the towel just yet.

The election marked a major shift in Swedish politics.

For the first time, the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals tied up with the far-right, long treated as "pariahs" by other political parties.