Sweden’s political parties launch coalition talks as both blocs try to secure power

Centre-left bloc led by Social Democrats has narrow lead with 95% of vote counted, but faces internal policy battle

Sweden’s political parties have launched coalition negotiations as the Social Democrats leader, Magdalena Andersson, started the long and difficult process of trying to form a new government.

Full results from Sunday’s election are not expected until after overseas votes are counted on Wednesday, but with 95% of the votes counted, the Social Democrats and the centre-left bloc had a narrow but growing lead of 176 seats to the right-leaning parties’ 173.