1968 Swedish general election

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1968 Swedish general election
Flag of Sweden.svg
  1964 15 September 1968 1970  

All 233 seats in the Andra kammaren of the Riksdag
117 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Tage Erlander 1952.jpg
Gunnar Hedlund 1966.jpg
People's
Leader Tage Erlander Gunnar Hedlund Sven Wedén
Party Social Democrats Centre People's Party
Last election1133643
Seats won1253934
Seat changeIncrease2.svg12Increase2.svg3Decrease2.svg9
Popular vote2,420,242778,810688,456
Percentage50.12%15.68%14.26%
SwingIncrease2.svg2.85 pp Increase2.svg2.50 pp Decrease2.svg2.72 pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
 
Yngve Holmberg 1966.jpg
C.H. Hermansson i Orebro, mindre bild.png
Leader Yngve Holmberg C.-H. Hermansson
Party Right Left Communists
Last election338
Seats won323
Seat changeDecrease2.svg1Decrease2.svg5
Popular vote621,031145,172
Percentage12.86%3.01%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.86 pp Decrease2.svg2.21 pp

Riksdagsvalet 1968.svg
Largest bloc and seats won by constituency

PM before election

Tage Erlander
Social Democrats

Elected PM

Tage Erlander
Social Democrats

General elections were held in Sweden on 15 September 1968. [1] Held in the wake of the crushing of the Prague Spring, it resulted in a landslide victory for the Social Democratic government and Prime Minister Tage Erlander. It is one of two general elections in Swedish history where a single party received more than half of the vote (the other being the election of 1940). Erlander would resign the following year after an uninterrupted tenure of 23 years as head of government.

Contents

The Social Democrats had held the office of Prime Minister since 1932 except a three-month "holiday cabinet" in 1936. This was due to the Social Democrats' absolute majority in the upper house of the Swedish parliament, the First Chamber, and a steady majority for them in general elections and also at large in municipality and county council elections. The latter gave them the majority in the upper house, the First Chamber. When they did not have an absolute majority, the Social Democrats could rely on a passive support from the Communists as the Social Democrats almost always nearly had half of the seats. The two socialist parties in the Riksdag did not however win a majority in the general elections of 1952 and 1956.

Results

Sweden Riksdag 1968.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party 2,420,27750.12125+12
Centre Party 757,21515.6839+3
People's Party 688,45614.2634–9
Right Party 621,03112.8632–1
Left Party Communists 145,1723.013–5
Civic Unity  [ sv ] [a] 82,0821.70
Christian Democratic Unity 72,3771.5000
Middle Parties  [ sv ] [b] 41,3070.86
Other parties1,4620.0300
Total4,829,379100.002330
Valid votes4,829,37999.33
Invalid/blank votes32,5220.67
Total votes4,861,901100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,445,33389.29
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Notes

  1. Joint list of the three right-wing parties in Malmö.
  2. Coalition of the Centre Party and People's Party that contested some constituencies. [2]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1858 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1861