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   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 12 3 9 Popular vote 2,420,242 778,810 688,456 Percentage 50.12% 15.68% 14.26% Swing 2.85 pp 2.50 pp 2.72 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Yngve Holmberg C.-H. Hermansson Party Right Left Communists Last election 33 8 Seats won 32 3 Seat change 1 5 Popular vote 621,031 145,172 Percentage 12.86% 3.01% Swing 0.86 pp 2.21 pp
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

Main article: Results of the 1968 Swedish general election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Swedish Social Democratic Party	2,420,277	50.12	125	+12
	Centre Party	757,215	15.68	39	+3
	People's Party	688,456	14.26	34	–9
	Right Party	621,031	12.86	32	–1
	Left Party Communists	145,172	3.01	3	–5
	Civic Unity [sv][a]	82,082	1.70	–	–
	Christian Democratic Unity	72,377	1.50	0	0
	Middle Parties [sv][b]	41,307	0.86	–	–
	Other parties	1,462	0.03	0	0
Total		4,829,379	100.00	233	0
Valid votes		4,829,379	99.33
Invalid/blank votes		32,522	0.67
Total votes		4,861,901	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,445,333	89.29
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Notes

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

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