1970 Swedish general election

1970 Swedish general election

20 September 1970
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 38 32 24 Popular vote 2,256,369 991,208 806,667 Percentage 45.34% 19.92% 16.21% Swing 4.78 pp 4.24 pp 1.95 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 9 14 Popular vote 573,812 236,659 Percentage 11.53% 4.76% Swing 1.33 pp 1.75 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

General elections were held in Sweden on 20 September 1970, 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.

Results

Main article: Results of the 1970 Swedish general election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Swedish Social Democratic Party	2,256,369	45.34	163	+38
	Centre Party	991,208	19.92	71	+32
	People's Party	806,667	16.21	58	+24
	Moderate Party	573,812	11.53	41	+9
	Left Party Communists	236,659	4.76	17	+14
	Christian Democratic Unity	88,770	1.78	0	0
	Communist League Marxist–Leninist	21,238	0.43	0	New
	Other parties	1,473	0.03	0	0
Total		4,976,196	100.00	350	+117
Valid votes		4,976,196	99.84
Invalid/blank votes		8,011	0.16
Total votes		4,984,207	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,645,804	88.28
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

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