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1973 Swedish general election

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Swedish general election, 1973

← 1970 16 September 1973 1976 →

All 350 seats to the Riksdag
176 were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Olof Palme Thorbjörn Fälldin Gösta Bohman
Party Social Democrats Centre Moderate
Last election 163 71 41
Seats won 156 90 51
Seat change Decrease7 Increase19 Increase10
Popular vote 2,247,727 1,295,246 737,584
Percentage 43.6% 25.1% 14.3%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Gunnar Helén C.-H. Hermansson
Party Liberals Left-Communist
Last election 58 17
Seats won 34 19
Seat change Decrease24 Increase2
Popular vote 486,028 274,929
Percentage 9.4% 5.3%

PM before election

Olof Palme
Social Democrats

Elected PM

Olof Palme
Social Democrats

General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1973.[1] The Social Democratic remained the largest party, winning 156 of the 350 seats.

For most of the campaign, the opposition parties had led the socialist parties in the polls. It has been speculated that several events influenced the outcome of the election in favour of the government: the death of King Gustaf VI Adolf the previous day, the Norrmalmstorg robbery and the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Palme had delivered an impassioned speech on Salvador Allende's legacy on the eve of the election, in which he praised the democratic system.

The election instead produced a draw, with the socialist and liberal-conservative blocs each winning 175 seats. Since the opposition could not pass a motion of no confidence against Palme's government, he was able to remain in power. In order to pass legislation the Social Democrats had to draw lots or seek support from the opposition. To prevent this scenario from reoccurring, the number of seats in the Riksdag was adjusted to an odd number for subsequent elections.

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party 2,247,727 43.6 156 –7
Centre Party 1,295,246 25.1 90 +19
Moderate Party 737,584 14.3 51 +10
People's Party 486,028 9.4 34 –24
Left Party Communists 274,929 5.3 19 +2
Christian Democratic Unity 90,388 1.8 0 0
Communist Party of Sweden 18,923 0.4 0 0
Communist League Marxist-Leninist (Revolutionaries) 8,014 0.2 0 New
Other parties 1,307 0.0 0 0
Invalid/blank votes 8,850
Total 5,168,996 100 350 0
Registered voters/turnout 5,690,333 90.8
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular vote
S
43.56%
C
25.10%
M
14.29%
FP
9.42%
VPK
5.33%
KD
1.75%
Others
0.55%
Parliament seats
S
44.57%
C
25.27%
M
14.57%
FP
9.71%
VPK
5.43%

By municipality

References

  1. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1858 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7