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(Bloomberg) — Sweden’s right-wing opposition took the lead from the Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s camp in parliamentary elections after a late surge by an anti-immigration party that’s eroded the dominance of her Social Democrats.

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A bloc that includes the nationalist Sweden Democrats is likely to gain 175 mandates in the 349-seat parliament in Sunday’s vote, versus 174 for the alliance that would be led by the ruling party, the country’s Election Authority said after the preliminary tally with 5,132 of 6,578 districts counted.

The data follows exit polls that gave a slight edge to Andersson’s bloc in what was expected to be a very close race between the two camps in the Nordic nation. The Sweden Democrats, led by Jimmie Akesson, are headed for their best result ever — emerging as the country’s second largest political force — while Andersson’s party is set to remain the biggest in parliament.

The gains by Swedish nationalists are emblematic of a broader shift in European politics. While French President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance remained the largest bloc in the April legislative election, the far-right National Rally fared much better than expected. Italy’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party, whose roots stretch back to Italy’s post-fascist movement, leads the right-wing coalition that looks poised for a landslide win in the Sept. 25 elections, according to the latest opinion polls.

The Sweden Democrats have campaigned on a promise to “make Sweden safe again,” by introducing longer prison sentences and reducing immigration to a minimum, as well as supporting the construction of new nuclear reactors.

After the 2018 election, it took four months for Andersson’s predecessor, Stefan Lofven, to form a government as the nation’s traditional political blocs imploded following the emergence of the Sweden Democrats, which fragmented the electoral landscape.

Akesson, 43, joined the anti-immigrant party in 1995, eight years after its formation as a part of Sweden’s far-right and neo-Nazi scene, and he has been central in ushering the group into parliament, where it got its first seats in 2010.

During his 17-year tenure, the nationalist leader has sought to make his party more palatable by weeding out extremists and abandoning some controversial policies, including more restrictive policies on abortion and a demand for Sweden to leave the European Union.

“For the first time we have a real chance of not only being an opposition party but actually being an active part of a new government that can take politics in a new direction,” Richard Jomshof, party secretary for the Sweden Democrats, told SVT.

The largest Nordic nation, at the top of most global welfare rankings, sought to be a safe haven in the recent decades by taking in waves of immigrants. Parties across the political spectrum have taken a tougher stand on migrants after Europe’s refugee crisis in 2015.

While the nationalist party’s emergence tracked the country’s growing difficulties of integrating immigrants, gang-related violence and crime has taken over in past years as the driver of the Sweden Democrats’ support.

Andersson, 55, has pledged to expand the police force as part of efforts to curb a wave of gang-related gun violence, to compensate consumers and companies hurt by soaring electricity costs and ban profit-taking from Sweden’s private schools. Since taking office late last year, her approval ratings have been consistently high, which helped her party secure its position as Sweden’s largest.

A former youth swimmer who changes into sneakers to move between government offices, Andersson has shown her pragmatism in the 9 months since she became Sweden’s first female prime minister. She led her party through a painful process of abandoning opposition to Sweden’s inclusion in military alliances, backing an application this year for NATO membership.

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If Andersson should win after all, when all votes are counted, she will still face a daunting task of crafting an agenda that her supporters could agree on. Her potential allies span the gamut from former communists of the Left Party to the free-market Center Party, which is dead set on keeping the leftists out of the cabinet.

(Updates with preliminary count by election authority.)

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