Lars Leijonborg wins Liberal seat after personal votes counted

Lars Leijonborg has won a seat in Sweden’s Riksdag after all personal votes were counted, despite not being the top candidate on the Liberals’ local list, SVT reports.

Leijonborg, 76, takes one of the party’s Malmö seats. Simon Chrisander was the top candidate on the Liberals’ Malmö list.

“I’m quite shocked,” Leijonborg told Aftonbladet.

The result followed the placement of the Liberals’ national name ballot papers at polling stations in Malmö. Torkild Strandberg, chair of the Liberals in Skåne, said the party wanted voters in Malmö to have access to Simona Mohamsson’s name, which was not included on the local list.

“The list on which Lars Leijonborg was elected was available throughout Sweden. Before Lars Leijonborg came Simona Mohamsson and Romina Pourmokhtari,” Strandberg told SVT.

Mohamsson and Pourmokhtari were elected in Stockholm, which meant Leijonborg received the Malmö seat.

Asked whether this was the right way to proceed, Strandberg said that voters decide who enters the Riksdag.

Leijonborg has said he plans to take up the seat, according to Aftonbladet.