| Country: | Sweden |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1970 Swedish general election |
| Previous Year: | 1970 |
| Next Election: | 1976 Swedish general election |
| Next Year: | 1976 |
| Seats For Election: | All 350 seats in the Riksdag |
| Majority Seats: | 176 |
| Election Date: | 16 September 1973 |
| Image1: | Olof Palme 1974 (cropped).jpg |
| Leader1: | Olof Palme |
| Party1: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
| Last Election1: | 163 |
| Seats1: | 156 |
| Seat Change1: | 7 |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,247,727 |
| Percentage1: | 43.56% |
| Swing1: | 1.78 pp |
| Leader2: | Thorbjörn Fälldin |
| Party2: | Centre Party (Sweden) |
| Last Election2: | 71 |
| Seats2: | 90 |
| Seat Change2: | 19 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,295,246 |
| Percentage2: | 25.10% |
| Swing2: | 5.18 pp |
| Image3: | Gösta Bohman (1967).jpg |
| Leader3: | Gösta Bohman |
| Party3: | Moderate Party |
| Last Election3: | 41 |
| Seats3: | 51 |
| Seat Change3: | 10 |
| Popular Vote3: | 737,584 |
| Percentage3: | 14.29% |
| Swing3: | 2.76 pp |
| Leader4: | Gunnar Helén |
| Party4: | People's Party |
| Last Election4: | 58 |
| Seats4: | 34 |
| Seat Change4: | 24 |
| Popular Vote4: | 486,028 |
| Percentage4: | 9.42% |
| Swing4: | 6.79 pp |
| Image5: | CH Hermansson.jpg |
| Leader5: | C.-H. Hermansson |
| Party5: | Left Communists |
| Last Election5: | 17 |
| Seats5: | 19 |
| Seat Change5: | 2 |
| Popular Vote5: | 274,929 |
| Percentage5: | 5.33% |
| Swing5: | 0.57 pp |
| PM | |
| Before Election: | Olof Palme |
| Before Party: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
| After Election: | Olof Palme |
| After Party: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1973.[1] The Social Democrats remained the largest party, winning 156 of the 350 seats.
For most of the campaign, the opposition parties had led the socialist parties in the polls. It has been speculated that several events influenced the outcome of the election in favour of the government: the death of King Gustaf VI Adolf the previous day, the Norrmalmstorg robbery and the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Prime Minister Olof Palme had delivered an impassioned speech on Salvador Allende's legacy on the eve of the election, in which he praised the democratic system.
The elections instead produced a draw, with the socialist and liberal-conservative blocs each winning 175 seats.[2] Since the opposition could not pass a motion of no confidence against Palme's government, he was able to remain in power. In order to pass legislation the Social Democrats had to draw lots or seek support from the opposition. To prevent this scenario from reoccurring, the number of seats in the Riksdag was adjusted to an odd number for subsequent elections. In the popular vote, while winning an equal number of seats the socialist bloc won 2,522,656 votes to the 2,518,858 for the liberal-conservative bloc, a net difference of 3,798 votes or 48.80% versus 48.73%, although the seats ended up being shared equally because of the narrow margin.
See main article: Results of the 1973 Swedish general election.
| Constituency | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By party | By coalition | |||||||||
| S | C | M | F | V | ||||||
| Älvsborg North | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Älvsborg South | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Blekinge | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Bohus | 11 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | |||
| Fyrstadskretsen | 21 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 10 | ||
| Gävleborg | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | ||
| Gothenburg | 20 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 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 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Kopparberg | 13 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | ||
| Kristianstad | 12 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | |||
| Kronoberg | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Malmöhus | 12 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | |||
| Norrbotten | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3 | |||
| Örebro | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Östergötland | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | ||
| Skaraborg | 11 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | |||
| Södermanland | 11 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | |||
| Stockholm County | 32 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 17 | ||
| Stockholm Municipality | 34 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 17 | ||
| Uppsala | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Värmland | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Västerbotten | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Västernorrland | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Västmanland | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Total | 350 | 156 | 90 | 51 | 34 | 19 | 175 | 175 | ||
| Source: Statistics Sweden | ||||||||||