EU election was a cold shower for the Sweden Democrats, who appear to be only the fourth largest party.
The Liberals appear to be managing to stay in the European Parliament.
For the first time since the Sweden Democrats entered the Riksdag in 2010, the party is falling back in a national election. By the time 6,175 of the 6,275 electoral districts that are counted on election night had been counted, the Sweden Democrats were one of the losers of the EU election.
The Sweden Democrats do, however, retain their three seats in the European Parliament, but expectations were significantly higher than that. The party had aimed to become the second-largest party in the EU election.
The Sweden Democrats receive 13.2 per cent, while the Moderates achieve 17.6 per cent. The evening's big surprise was the Greens, who became the third-largest party with 13.8 per cent.
The Sweden Democrats' leader, Jimmie Åkesson, held a speech to disappointed Sweden Democrats.
However, he also had an explanation for the setback. According to Åkesson, the party had to go through a hard election campaign and referred to TV4's revelation about the party's anonymous social media accounts.
The Moderates' election watch party let out a sigh of relief after managing to retain their position as the second-largest party in the EU election.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was more restrained in his celebrations and instead extended his hand to other parties.
No party appears to be heading for the exit from the European Parliament. The Liberals had a rollercoaster evening, but ultimately ended up just above the four per cent threshold at 4.4 per cent.
Even the Christian Democrats and Centre Party were crisis parties before the election campaign but managed to find solid ground, although the Christian Democrats lost one of their two seats. The Christian Democrats receive 5.7 per cent and the Centre Party 7.3 per cent.
The Left Party was another winner of the evening and increases from one to two seats. The Left Party appears to receive 10.9 per cent and increases the most of all.
The Social Democrats increase to 24.9 per cent, which is the first time the party has moved forward in an EU election and was also the party's goal.
The preliminary election result means that the Left Party will take a seat from the Christian Democrats. The others retain their seats.
The votes for the remaining districts still need to be counted. The final result is expected later in the week.
