Swedish government parties could be kicked out
While Reinfeldt's Moderate Party has seen its popularity swell, its coalition partners are all dangerously close to the four-percent limit needed to enter parliament.
Göran Hägglund (Christian Democrats), Maud Olofsson (Centre Party) and Jan Björklund (Liberal Party). In the background, Fredrik Reinfeldt (Moderate Party).
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A new poll published Wednesday confirmed that Sweden's ruling centre-right coalition has edged slightly ahead of the opposition in the run-up to September elections after trailing in surveys for months.
The Novus poll, published by TV4, handed Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's four-party government 47 percent of voter intention compared to 46.4 percent for an alliance of left-leaning opposition parties.
The survey of 2,000 people was conducted between May 25 and June 7. Just over 11 percent of those questioned said they did not yet know who they would vote for.
The poll was the first by Novus to show a lead for the coalition in power since 2006. Less than two years ago, in August 2008, a survey by the institute indicated the opposition was up to 16 percentage points ahead.
Wednesday's survey however confirmed several recent polls by other institutes showing the government had caught up with the opposition and even pulled narrowly ahead.
Although the poll results fall within the margin of error, Novus pointed out that Reinfeldt's Moderate Party on an individual basis also came out slightly in front of opposition leader Mona Sahlin's Social Democrats, with 32.1 percent against 31.5 percent.
The Social Democrat have traditionally been the largest party in Sweden, and have ruled the Scandinavian country for all but 12 years since 1932.
This election marks the first time they have needed to enter a coalition to have a chance at securing a majority of votes on September 19.
While Reinfeldt's Moderate Party has seen its popularity swell in recent polls, Wednesday's survey hinted its coalition partners are all dangerously close to the four-percent limit needed to enter parliament.
The Liberal Party received 5.7 percent, the Centre Party 5.2 percent and the Christian Democrats only 3.9 percent of voter intention in the poll.
The Novus survey also indicated growing popularity for the far-right Sweden Democrats, which secured 4.8 percent of voter intention in Wednesday's poll -- enough to enter parliament for the first time.
Last Updated (Wednesday, 09 June 2010 15:39)























