Swedish general election, 1982

Swedish general election, 1982

1979 ← 19 September 1982 → 1985

All 349 seats to the Riksdag 175 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Olof Palme Thorbjörn Fälldin Party Social Democrats Centre Party Last election 152 seats 64 seats Seats won 166 seats 56 Seat change +12 –8 Popular vote 2,533,250 859,618 Percentage 45.6% 15.5%

PM before election Thorbjörn Fälldin Centre Party Elected PM Olof Palme Social Democrats

General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 1982. They saw the return of the Swedish Social Democratic Party to power after six years in opposition, the longest period in opposition by the Social Democrats since the 1910s. The center-right coalition of Thorbjörn Fälldin had earlier suffered a loss upon the breakup of the government in 1981, the year before the election, when the rightish Moderate Party chose to withdraw from the government, protesting against the centrist tax policies of the Fälldin government. After regaining power, socialist leader Olof Palme succeeded in being elected Prime Minister again, having earlier held power between 1969 and 1976. He would retain this position successfully until his assassination in 1986.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party	2,533,250	45.6	166	+12
Moderate Party	1,313,337	23.6	86	+13
Centre Party	859,618	15.5	56	–8
People's Party	327,770	5.9	21	–17
Left Party Communists	308,899	5.6	20	0
Christian Democratic Unity	103,820	1.9	0	0
Green Party	91,787	1.7	0	New
Workers Party Communists	5,745	0.1	0	0
Other parties	10,376	0.2	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	52,001	–	–	–
Total	5,606,603	100	349	0
Registered voters/turnout	6,130,993	91.4	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By municipality

• 

  Votes by municipality. The municipalities are the color of the party that got the most votes within the coalition that won relative majority.

• 

  Cartogram of the map to the left with each municipality rescaled to the number of valid votes cast.

• 

  Map showing the voting shifts from the 1979 to the 1982 election. Darker blue indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that formed the centre-right bloc. Darker red indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that form the left-wing bloc.

• 

  Votes by municipality as a scale from red/Left-wing bloc to blue/Centre-right bloc.

• 

  Cartogram of vote with each municipality rescaled in proportion to number of valid votes cast. Deeper blue represents a relative majority for the centre-right coalition, brighter red represents a relative majority for the left-wing coalition.