Higher taxes and economic issues dominate the debates.

• Swedish economy grows faster than expected
• Sweden's left-wingers plan tax hikes on the rich
• Sweden government pushes fiscal responsibility

A new poll published Friday showed Sweden's ruling centre-right coalition narrowly in front of the opposition in voter intentions ahead of the September 19 election.

Friday's Synovate poll was the second this month to show the four-party coalition with a slight lead over the opposition made up of the Social Democrat, Green and Left parties, but signaled a tight race between the two blocks.

Other past surveys had shown the opposition with a clear lead.

The latest poll gave the centre-right government's 48.3 percent of voter support which was less than 2.0 percentage points ahead of the opposition, which garnered 46.5 percent.

The figures signaled a 5.2 percent increase for Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's ruling block and a 4.7 percent decline for the opposition parties, which are presenting themselves as a united "red-green" coalition, since the last Synovate survey was published on April 30.

Since then, the Green and Left parties have held their congresses, and the opposition has presented a shadow budget staking out higher taxes and economic issues which have largely dominated debates between the two blocks.

A Synovate pollster told daily Dagens Nyheter, which published the survey, that the opposition's policies had rallied support behind the government.

"The red-green policies have been clarified. And that has led to mobilisation from right-wing voters behind their parties, and a disenchantment among the opposition parties' voters," Nicklas Kållebring said.

The poll showed a 3.0 percentage point rise for Reinfeldt's Moderate party, to 31.8 percent of voter intentions.

The Social Democrat party, historically Sweden's most important political party, barely retained its lead, garnering 32.5 percent of voter support, a 2.6 percent loss compared with the last Synovate survey.

"Former Moderate voters who had gone over to the Social Democrats are now going back to the Moderates," Kaellebring said.

Synovate surveyed 2,690 people between May 10 and May 26.