1968 Swedish general election

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.

1968 Swedish general election

← 1964 15 September 1968 1970 →

All 233 seats in the Andra kammaren of the Riksdag
117 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third 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 election 113 36 43
Seats won 125 39 34
Seat change Increase12 Increase3 Decrease9
Popular vote 2,420,242 778,810 688,456
Percentage 50.12% 15.68% 14.26%
Swing Increase2.85pp Increase2.50pp Decrease2.72pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Yngve Holmberg 1966.jpg
C.H. Hermansson i Örebro, mindre bild.png
Leader Yngve Holmberg C.-H. Hermansson
Party Right Left Communists
Last election 33 8
Seats won 32 3
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease5
Popular vote 621,031 145,172
Percentage 12.86% 3.01%
Swing Decrease0.86pp Decrease2.21pp

Largest bloc and seats won by constituency

PM before election

Tage Erlander
Social Democrats

Elected PM

Tage Erlander
Social Democrats

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 lower house of the Swedish parliament, the Second 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

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party2,420,27750.12125+12
Centre Party757,21515.6839+3
People's Party688,45614.2634–9
Right Party621,03112.8632–1
Left Party Communists145,1723.013–5
Civic Unity [sv][a]82,0821.70
Christian Democratic Unity72,3771.5000
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

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  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

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