Recent opinion polls show a much reduced gap between the left and right blocs and one poll today even indicates that the left bloc have a slight lead.
The reason for this swing? The Folk Party, liberals who are the third largest party in the Riksdag , have been caught hacking into Social Democrat computer databases. Both the party secretary and campaign manager have resigned. The irony of this has not been lost on voters. A central theme in the FP's election campaign has been to give police the right to bug the telephone lines of suspected criminals.
Such is the fragility of the FP's support base, it has even been suggested that this scandal could see the Folk Party (who before the scandal recorded opinion poll ratings of around 13%) fail to reach the 4% threshold for Riksdag representation. It is thought that many of those who had considered voting FP were disillusioned left voters. If just a third of the FP vote goes back to the left then Goran Persson will almost certainly win another term.
The Social Democrats have renewed confidence and vigour going into the final stretch of the election campaign. But like so much in this election campaign, none of this has anything to do with politics.
