1970 Swedish general election

General elections were held in Sweden on 20 September 1970,[1] two years ahead of schedule because of the opening of the newly unicameral Riksdag. The Social Democratic remained the largest party, winning 163 of the 350 seats and gathered enough support to remain in power under its 1969 elected leader, Prime Minister Olof Palme.

1970 Swedish general election

← 1968 20 September 1970 1973 →

All 350 seats in the Riksdag
176 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Olof Palme Gunnar Hedlund Gunnar Helén
Party Social Democrats Centre Liberals
Last election 125 seats 39 seats 34 seats
Seats won 163 71 58
Seat change Increase38 Increase32 Increase24
Popular vote 2,256,369 991,208 806,667
Percentage 45.34% 19.92% 16.21%
Swing Decrease4.78 pp Increase4.24 pp Increase1.95 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Yngve Holmberg C.-H. Hermansson
Party Moderate Left Communists
Last election 32 seats 3 seats
Seats won 41 17
Seat change Increase9 Increase14
Popular vote 573,812 236,659
Percentage 11.53% 4.76%
Swing Decrease1.33 pp Increase1.75 pp

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

Examples of ballot papers used for 1970 Swedish general (yellow) and regional (blue) elections

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party2,256,36945.34163+38
Centre Party991,20819.9271+32
People's Party806,66716.2158+24
Moderate Party573,81211.5341+9
Left Party Communists236,6594.7617+14
Christian Democratic Unity88,7701.7800
Communist League Marxist–Leninist21,2380.430New
Other parties1,4730.0300
Total4,976,196100.00350+117
Valid votes4,976,19699.84
Invalid/blank votes8,0110.16
Total votes4,984,207100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,645,80488.28
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

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Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
By party By coalition
S C F M V Left Right
Älvsborg North 9 4 2 2 1 4 5
Älvsborg South 7 3 2 1 1 3 4
Blekinge 6 4 1 1 4 2
Fyrstadskretsen 21 10 3 4 3 1 11 10
Gävleborg 13 7 3 1 1 1 8 5
Gothenburg and Bohus 10 4 2 3 1 4 6
Gothenburg Municipality 20 8 2 6 2 2 10 10
Gotland 2 1 1 1 1
Halland 8 3 3 1 1 3 5
Jämtland 5 3 2 3 2
Jönköping 13 5 4 2 2 5 8
Kalmar 11 5 3 1 2 5 6
Kopparberg 12 6 3 1 1 1 7 5
Kristianstad 12 5 3 2 2 5 7
Kronoberg 7 3 2 1 1 3 4
Malmöhus 11 5 3 2 1 5 6
Norrbotten 12 6 2 1 1 2 8 4
Örebro 12 6 2 2 1 1 7 5
Östergötland 17 9 3 2 2 1 10 7
Skaraborg 11 4 3 2 2 4 7
Södermanland 11 6 2 2 1 6 5
Stockholm County 28 12 4 6 4 2 14 14
Stockholm Municipality 36 15 4 7 6 4 19 17
Uppsala 8 4 2 1 1 4 4
Värmland 14 7 3 2 1 1 8 6
Västerbotten 10 5 2 2 1 5 5
Västernorrland 13 7 3 1 1 1 8 5
Västmanland 11 6 2 2 1 6 5
Total 350 163 71 58 41 17 180 170
Source: Statistics Sweden

References

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