Sweden expected to veer to the right in parliamentary polls

The government centre-right coalition was riding high in opinion polls against the Social Democrats and their allies, following tax cuts and a strong recovery.

The centre-left Social Democrats had ruled Sweden for 65 of the past 78 years, and have been credited with setting up the country's generous welfare state.

Swedish prime minister Frederik Reinfeldt did not want to speculate on how his Alliance for Sweden coalition would deal with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats led by Jimmie Akesson if they got into parliament.

However, analysts have warned that a strong swing to the right could cost Reinfeldt's coalition its majority.

Both main political blocs have pledged they would rather co-operate with each other than form a coalition with a party which was “racist and xenophobic”.

Reinfeldt had urged Swedes to vote tactically in today’s election to keep out the far right.

The Sweden Democrats “appear to have tapped into voter dissatisfaction over immigration”. Immigrants made up 14% of the country's population of 9.4 million.

The largest immigrant group is from neighbouring Finland, followed by people from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and Poland.