SWEDEN: POLITICS - Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asks voters to give his alliance their continued trust and support on the eve of a close election, tipped to result in a change in government

Record ID: 347199

  • Title: SWEDEN: POLITICS - Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asks voters to give his alliance their continued trust and support on the eve of a close election, tipped to result in a change in government
  • Date: 13th September 2014
  • Summary: LEADERS APPLAUDING LEADERS POSE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND LEAVE STAGE
  • Embargoed: 28th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA11HX2Q1QF5FWJLI9SYB31P9HM
  • Story Text: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Saturday (September 13) tried to woo undecided voters at a campaign rally in central Stockholm.
    Less than a day before the vote on Sunday (September 14), the opposition, led by Social Democrat Stefan Lofven, was ahead in opinion polls.
    The opposition parties have had a lead in the polls for a long time, but the gap has narrowed in the last week as some voters switched support to Sweden's centre-right government, the Alliance, led by Reinfeldt's Moderate Party.
    Reinfeldt, who has cut spending and trimmed welfare in eight years of office, is battling an opposition promising to invest more in health and education and raise taxes on the rich.
    Reinfeldt and his colleagues from the Alliance - the Liberal People's Party, Centre Party and Christian Democrats - took to the stage in Stockholm for some last minute campaigning.
    He called on people not to vote for the ones promising what could not be kept, but to continue to support the Alliance.

    "The one in this election campaign promises everything to everybody is the one who will be cutting and cutting down and remove the promises they have made. Back those that are best at the economy - that is the Alliance. We deserve the people's continued trust on Sunday," he said.
    Polls show centre-left parties lead the government by around 6 percentage points. Reinfeldt, however, has benefited from some voters trusting his track record in the face of the expected impasse after the vote - pollsters say neither the left nor right may garner a parliamentary majority.
    The Social Democrats, founders of Sweden's welfare state, would often take nearly 50 per cent of the vote in elections in the past few decades.
    But even though Lofven may win Sunday's vote, his party may suffer its worse performance in a century with under 30 per cent of votes, polls show.
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