1973 Swedish general election

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1973 Swedish general election
Flag of Sweden.svg
  1970 16 September 1973 1976  

All 350 seats in the Riksdag
176 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Olof Palme 1974 (cropped).jpg Falldin.JPG Gosta Bohman (1967).jpg
Leader Olof Palme Thorbjörn Fälldin Gösta Bohman
Party Social Democrats Centre Moderate
Last election1637141
Seats won1569051
Seat changeDecrease2.svg7Increase2.svg19Increase2.svg10
Popular vote2,247,7271,295,246737,584
Percentage43.56%25.10%14.29%
SwingDecrease2.svg1.78ppIncrease2.svg5.18ppIncrease2.svg2.76pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
  CH Hermansson.jpg
Leader Gunnar Helén C.-H. Hermansson
Party People's Party Left Communists
Last election5817
Seats won3419
Seat changeDecrease2.svg24Increase2.svg2
Popular vote486,028274,929
Percentage9.42%5.33%
SwingDecrease2.svg6.79ppIncrease2.svg0.57pp

Riksdagsvalet 1973.svg
Map of the election, showing the distribution of constituency and levelling seats, as well as the largest political bloc within each constituency.

PM before election

Olof Palme
Social Democrats

Elected PM

Olof Palme
Social Democrats

General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1973. [1] The Social Democrats remained the largest party, winning 156 of the 350 seats.

Contents

For most of the campaign, the opposition parties had led the socialist parties in the polls. It has been speculated that several events influenced the outcome of the election in favour of the government: the death of King Gustaf VI Adolf the previous day, the Norrmalmstorg robbery and the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Prime Minister Olof Palme had delivered an impassioned speech on Salvador Allende's legacy on the eve of the election, in which he praised the democratic system.

The elections instead produced a draw, with the socialist and liberal-conservative blocs each winning 175 seats. [2] Since the opposition could not pass a motion of no confidence against Palme's government, he was able to remain in power. In order to pass legislation the Social Democrats had to draw lots or seek support from the opposition. To prevent this scenario from reoccurring, the number of seats in the Riksdag was adjusted to an odd number for subsequent elections. In the popular vote, while winning an equal number of seats the socialist bloc won 2,522,656 votes to the 2,518,858 for the liberal-conservative bloc, a net difference of 3,798 votes or 48.80% versus 48.73%, although the seats ended up being shared equally because of the narrow margin.

Results

Sweden Riksdag 1973.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party 2,247,72743.56156–7
Centre Party 1,295,24625.1090+19
Moderate Party 737,58414.2951+10
People's Party 486,0289.4234–24
Left Party Communists 274,9295.3319+2
Christian Democratic Unity 90,3881.7500
Communist Party 18,9230.3700
Communist League Marxist-Leninist (Revolutionaries) 8,0140.160New
Other parties1,3070.0300
Total5,160,146100.003500
Valid votes5,160,14699.83
Invalid/blank votes8,8500.17
Total votes5,168,996100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,690,33390.84
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
By partyBy coalition
S C M F V LeftRight
Älvsborg North 9431145
Älvsborg South 732234
Blekinge 7321134
Bohus 11432247
Fyrstadskretsen 211044211110
Gävleborg 137311185
Gothenburg 20833421010
Gotland 21111
Halland 8331135
Jämtland 53232
Jönköping 13542258
Kalmar 1053255
Kopparberg 136411176
Kristianstad12542157
Kronoberg 733134
Malmöhus12542157
Norrbotten 11621283
Örebro 126311175
Östergötland 168421197
Skaraborg 11442147
Södermanland 11521154
Stockholm County 321276431517
Stockholm Municipality 341358441717
Uppsala 9431145
Värmland 126311175
Västerbotten 10531155
Västernorrland 126311175
Västmanland 126311175
Total35015690513419175175
Source: Statistics Sweden

By municipality


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References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1858 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. 1976 Inter-Parliamentary Union