Swedish Social Democrat Victory Sets Precedent for Europe

The Swedish prime minister, Goeran Persson, today insisted that a general election victory for his Social Democrats demonstrated the European left was still a powerful electoral force despite recent gains for the right across the continent.

Mr Persson, who campaigned on a pledge of continued high taxes for Sweden's welfare state, said the result set a precedent for when the centre-left German chancellor, Gerhard Schröoeder, goes to the polls on Sunday.

"We broke the trend. Next week our German comrades can follow us," Mr Persson said.

Centre-left governments in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Portugal have all fallen to resurgent right-wing parties in recent years, shifting the political balance across the EU.

Mr Schröoeder sent Persson a telegram congratulating him on his "convincing victory". Mr Persson's spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, said Sweden had given the prime minister a "clear vote of confidence".

Denmark's former Social Democratic prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen also welcomed the result.

"The result in Sweden shows that there is still room in Europe for values like [social] justice, safety and community spirit," he said.

"In the light of the recent right turns in Europe, it was good to have that confirmed."

The result - which saw the Social Democrats win 40% of the vote and gain 13 seats on its previous total - has surprised many observers who expected a closer-run finish with the conservative Moderate party. However, it still leaves Mr Persson needing to build a coalition government.

The prime minister said he would not yet yield to demands for ministerial posts, and hinted he was willing to look further than just to other left-wing parties and the Greens, after an unusually strong showing by the centre-right Liberal party in yesterday's elections.

"I do not seek a mandate for anything else than a Social Democratic government. But the forms of cooperation can of course be developed and widened," Mr Persson said before a meeting with the party's executive committee to analyse the election's outcome.

The real election surprise - or on the form of recent European elections the most anticipated - was the gains made by the Liberal party, who surged past the Centre party and the Christian Democrats to become the third-biggest party in parliament with 48 seats.

Its leader Lars Leijonborg, 52, last month made a proposal requiring immigrants pass a Swedish language test before gaining citizenship.

Sweden lacks a strong anti-immigration party of the kind found elsewhere in Europe but Mr Leijonborg's party appeared to touch a national nerve.