electionstracker

Sweden 1979 general election

What was the result of the 1979 general election in Sweden?

Swedish Social Democratic Party won 154 of 349 seats with 43.2% of the vote. 90.7% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Sweden
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Swedish Social Democratic Party won 154 of 349 seats with 43.2% of the vote; 90.7% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 1.0 points on 1976.

  • Swedish Social Democratic Party 154 +2 seats 43.2% +0.5 points
  • Moderate Party 73 +18 seats 20.3% +4.7 points
  • Centre Party 64 −22 seats 18.1% −6.0 points
  • Liberals 38 −1 seat 10.6% −0.5 points
  • Left Party 20 +3 seats 5.6% +0.9 points
  • Christian Democrats 0 0 seats 1.4% 0.0 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Sweden 1976 general election, party by party.

175 of 349 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 43.2%

    Share of the vote won by Swedish Social Democratic Party

    Swedish Social Democratic Party won 154 of 349 seats. A majority needs 175.

  2. +18 seats

    Seats gained by Moderate Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1976. Centre Party lost 22 seats.

  3. 90.7%

    Voter turnout

    Down 1.0 points on 1976.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Swedish Social Democratic Party154+243.2+0.52,356,234
Moderate Party73+1820.3+4.71,108,406
Centre Party64−2218.1−6.0984,589
Liberals38−110.6−0.5577,063
Left Party20+35.6+0.9305,420
Christian Democrats001.40.075,993

± is the change against the Sweden 1976 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Swedish Social Democratic Party 2,356,234
  • Moderate Party 1,108,406
  • Centre Party 984,589
  • Liberals 577,063
  • Left Party 305,420
  • Christian Democrats 75,993

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

90.7% of the 6,040,461 registered voters cast a ballot (5,480,126 ballots), down 1.0 points on 1976. 5,448,638 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1970 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Swedish Social Democratic Party43.2% of votes44.1% of seats
  • Moderate Party20.3% of votes20.9% of seats
  • Centre Party18.1% of votes18.3% of seats
  • Liberals10.6% of votes10.9% of seats
  • Left Party5.6% of votes5.7% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 1.3 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.6 by votes and 3.5 by seats; Swedish Social Democratic Party led Moderate Party by 22.9 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of