PERSONAL VOTING

The Alliance is now leading according to several polls. I think it will be a close race. [Editor's comment: I will not be sad if Göran Persson and his socialist members have to look for a new job on Monday...]

It is scary that the "Feminist Initiative" is getting support from Jane Fonda, and that an anti-immigration party is starting to get closer to the 4% level. I am thinking of sending out a signal to these elements, by "personal voting" for a specific candidate who is in favor of immigration and have no problem to let beautiful women in bikinis attend his personal campaign kick-off... Thanks to my friend, Bengt-Ake Harrysson, for mentioning Göran Lindblad. Read Göran Lindblad's speech (The Crimes of Communism Should be Condemned) at the National Press Club. The candidate is ranked highly by the Federation of Private Enterprises.

Resources: How Sweden's election works and How do you vote?

UPDATE 09/17/06:

The ballot will close in less than five hours, so I have to go to the election booth soon. I will update this post during the evening with incoming results from the counting of the votes. Here is the last paragraph from the article, Why should the world care how Sweden votes?

But the Swedish Moderate Party is less important for the European Right than the Social Democratic Party is for the European Left. The latter's total dominance of Swedish politics and society has given it almost totemic importance. Defeat for Persson on Sunday will send a chill wind through the ranks of Europe's socialist parties. (TheLocal.se, 09/17/06.)

In the news: Sweden's Social Democrats under threat in election - Reuters.

Related: My post, DIRTY POLITICS IN SWEDEN.

UPDATE 3:20 PM EST / 9:20 PM CET:

It has been about 90 minutes after the voting procedure and the figures are coming in. At the beginning, it looked like the Alliance had a big margin, but now the prognosis is very hard to calculate and it is better to wait for the results.

UPDATE 4:50 PM EST / 10:50 CET:

Socialist parties 171 mandates - Alliance 178 mandates. It looks like the Alliance will win, but we have to wait for the final result until Wednesday, counting the votes from expatriates and votes via mail. In my area, Gothenburg, the Social Democrats and the Left Party could still be in power.

UPDATE 5 PM EST / 11 PM CET:

From Radio Sweden:

The opposition center-right alliance has narrowly won the Swedish elections. In his concession speech, Prime Minister Göran Persson announced he would be resigning his post as leader of the Social Democrat party. (SR.se)

5691 of 5783 voting districts counted.
Participation: 80.4%.

Moderates 26.0%
Center 8.0%
Liberals 7.5%
Christian Democrats 6.6%

Social Democrats 35.3%
Left 5.8%

Greens 5.1%

Misc. parties 5.7%

UPDATE 5:30 PM EST / 11:30 PM CET:

Welcome InstaPundit and Pajamas Media readers! I will come back tomorrow morning (European time) with comments from mainstream media and a short analysis and summary. I will also post a history on my personal voting procedure.