"The Moderates think that lowering taxes is the priority", the Social Democrats' leader said as the official mud-throwing kicked off.

• 'The Left Party is savers' enemy number one'
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With just over one month left before voting day, Swedish political parties launched their election campaigns at the weekend by holding their first major rallies.

At a rally in the capital Stockholm on Saturday, centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt promised new tax cuts, particularly for the retired, when the Scandinavian country's budget swings back into the black.

Reinfeldt, who just turned 45, has been eager to focus the debate on his government's record on handling the economy which has made a roaring comeback after an initial hit from the global financial crisis.

The Social Democrats' Mona Sahlin charged Reinfeldt's Moderates had the wrong priorities at her rally on Sunday.

"The Moderates think that lowering taxes is the priority. They don't see any others. Not youth unemployment, not exclusion of the sick, ... not growing inequality between people," she said.

"Lowering taxes has a price. I am sure that price will paid by the welfare state," she added.

The latest opinion polls show a tight race ahead of the September 19 election.