General elections were held in Sweden on 18 September 1988. The Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Riksdag, winning 156 of the 349 seats.

The Swedish Green Party won seats in the Riksdag for the first time.

Debates

1988 Swedish general election debates
DateTime (CEST)OrganizersModeratorsP Present I Invitee N Non-invitee
SMLCVRefs
16 Sep21:30Sveriges TelevisionGösta Spjuth[sv] Maud ZachrissonP Ingvar Carlsson, Kjell-Olof FeldtP Carl BildtP Bengt WesterberP Olof JohanssonP Lars Werner

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party2,321,82643.21156–3
Moderate Party983,22618.3066–10
People's Party655,72012.2044–7
Centre Party607,24011.3042–1
Left Party Communists314,0315.8421+2
Green Party296,9355.5320+20
Christian Democratic Society Party158,1822.940–1
Other parties36,5590.6800
Total5,373,719100.003490
Valid votes5,373,71998.76
Invalid/blank votes67,3311.24
Total votes5,441,050100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,330,02385.96
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

ConstituencyTotal seatsSeats won
By partyBy coalition
SMFCVMPLeftRightOthers
Älvsborg North1142221461
Älvsborg South6311133
Blekinge641142
Bohus12522111651
Fyrstadskretsen209521121082
Gävleborg12611211741
Gothenburg19743122982
Gotland21111
Halland1142221461
Jämtland531132
Jönköping11522256
Kalmar10521255
Kopparberg12611211741
Kristianstad1253121561
Kronoberg6311133
Malmöhus1363121661
Norrbotten106111173
Örebro116121174
Östergötland17832211971
Skaraborg1152121551
Södermanland9521154
Stockholm County371310623316183
Stockholm Municipality30108514214142
Uppsala12522111651
Värmland126212175
Västerbotten105112164
Västernorrland12611211741
Västmanland105211164
Total349156664442212017715220
Source:

By municipality

  • Votes by municipality. The municipalities are the color of the party that got the most votes within the coalition that won relative majority.
  • Cartogram of the map to the left with each municipality rescaled to the number of valid votes cast.
  • Map showing the voting shifts from the 1985 to the 1988 election. Darker blue indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that formed the centre-right bloc. Darker red indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that form the left-wing bloc.
  • Votes by municipality as a scale from red/Left-wing bloc to blue/Centre-right bloc.
  • Cartogram of vote with each municipality rescaled in proportion to number of valid votes cast. Deeper blue represents a relative majority for the centre-right coalition, brighter red represents a relative majority for the left-wing coalition.