| Country: | Sweden |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1976 Swedish general election |
| Previous Year: | 1976 |
| Next Election: | 1982 Swedish general election |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
| Seats For Election: | All 349 seats in the Riksdag |
| Majority Seats: | 175 |
| Election Date: | 16 September 1979 |
| Image1: | Olof Palme 1974 (cropped).jpg |
| Leader1: | Olof Palme |
| Party1: | Swedish Social Democratic Party |
| Last Election1: | 152 |
| Seats1: | 154 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,356,234 |
| Percentage1: | 43.24% |
| Swing1: | 0.49pp |
| Leader2: | Gösta Bohman |
| Party2: | Moderate Party |
| Last Election2: | 55 |
| Seats2: | 73 |
| Seat Change2: | 18 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,108,406 |
| Percentage2: | 20.34% |
| Swing2: | 4.75pp |
| Image3: | Falldin.JPG |
| Leader3: | Thorbjörn Fälldin |
| Party3: | Centre Party (Sweden) |
| Last Election3: | 86 |
| Seats3: | 64 |
| Seat Change3: | 22 |
| Popular Vote3: | 984,589 |
| Percentage3: | 18.07% |
| Swing3: | 6.01pp |
| Image4: | Ola Ullsten.JPG |
| Leader4: | Ola Ullsten |
| Party4: | People's Party |
| Last Election4: | 39 |
| Seats4: | 38 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 577,063 |
| Percentage4: | 10.59% |
| Swing4: | 0.47pp |
| Image5: | Bundesarchiv Bild 183-N0701-023, Berlin, Erich Honecker, Lars Werner cropped.jpg |
| Leader5: | Lars Werner |
| Party5: | Left Communists |
| Last Election5: | 17 |
| Seats5: | 20 |
| Seat Change5: | 3 |
| Popular Vote5: | 305,420 |
| Percentage5: | 5.61% |
| Swing5: | 0.86pp |
| PM | |
| Before Election: | Ola Ullsten |
| Before Party: | People's Party |
| After Election: | Thorbjörn Fälldin |
| After Party: | Centre Party (Sweden) |
General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1979.[1] Although the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 154 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag,[2] the liberal interim government of Ola Ullsten was succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, the Moderate Party and the Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin. The three parties together won 175 seats, compared to the 174 won by the Social Democrats and Communists. It was the only time that non-socialist parties retained power in an election between 1928 and 2010. The Moderates dramatically increased their representation in the Riksdag, becoming the largest party of the non-socialist bloc, a position they maintained until 2022.
Despite the unexpected victory, the coalition split in 1981 when the Moderates withdrew support in protest at Fälldin's tax policies, which they viewed as "too leftist". Despite not being the leader of the coalition party with the most seats, Fälldin had been the designate Prime Minister since his earlier resignation in 1978, upon disagreement over the question of nuclear power.
See main article: Results of the 1979 Swedish general election.
| Constituency | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By party | By coalition | |||||||||
| S | M | C | F | V | ||||||
| Älvsborg North | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | |||
| Älvsborg South | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | |||
| Blekinge | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Bohus | 11 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | |||
| Fyrstadskretsen | 21 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 10 | ||
| Gävleborg | 13 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | ||
| Gothenburg | 19 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 9 | ||
| Gotland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Halland | 10 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | |||
| Jämtland | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Jönköping | 13 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | |||
| Kalmar | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Kopparberg | 13 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | ||
| Kristianstad | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | |||
| Kronoberg | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Malmöhus | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | |||
| Norrbotten | 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| Örebro | 12 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Östergötland | 17 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 9 | ||
| Skaraborg | 10 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | |||
| Södermanland | 11 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Stockholm County | 33 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 16 | ||
| Stockholm Municipality | 31 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 15 | ||
| Uppsala | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Värmland | 12 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Västerbotten | 10 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Västernorrland | 12 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Västmanland | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Total | 349 | 154 | 73 | 64 | 38 | 20 | 175 | 174 | ||
| Source: Statistics Sweden | ||||||||||