SWEDEN: Swedes celebrate the election victory of the centre-right alliance headed by Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt

A centre-right alliance headed by Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt won power in Sweden, ending 12 years of Social Democrat rule with vows to cut taxes and trim back the welfare state to boost jobs. Reinfeldt, 41, who will be the next prime minister, beat Social Democrat Prime Minister Goran Persson, one of Europe's longest-serving leaders after 10 years in office. ""It feels fantastic. It's the first time in twenty five years that we now have a majority government in Sweden that has been elected on job creation programs. So it's fantastic. It means that we will now focus on job creation programs, on choice, on delivering more power over your own life," Reinfeldt told Reuters after what he called an historic victory in Sunday's election. The four-party opposition bloc won 48.1 percent of votes to 46.2 percent for Persson and his allies, according to almost complete results from Sweden's Election Commission. This gave Reinfeldt and his partners in the Folk Liberal Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats 178 seats in the 349-seat parliament, a slim majority of 7 seats. The coalition was set on Monday to start discussing the distribution of seats in the government, although it will not be presented to parliament until October 6. The result was a victory for the alliance's pledges to stimulate job growth by fine-tuning, but not dismantling, the social welfare system brought in by the Social Democrats who have governed Sweden for six of the last seven decades. Swedes pay high taxes but the welfare state gives them generous benefits. Reinfeldt says the downside is their will to work has been sapped by excessive benefits. Despite Sweden's strong economy, opinion polls suggested many people wanted change in the country of just over 9 million people, were tired of Persson and wanted new ideas. The election was closely watched by other European Union governments facing the need for welfare reform because of ageing populations and creaking pension and healthcare systems. Reinfeldt supporters celebrated in to the early hours of the morning in Stockholm, some choose to dance in the Sergels Torg fountain.

ITN Source | September 18, 2006

Tags:. .october. .almost. .won. .prime. .economy