By Anna Ringstrom and Simon Johnson
STOCKHOLM, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Sweden's parliamentary election result showed a dead heat in early election results on Sunday, with public broadcaster SVT projecting the right-wing bloc of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was virtually tied with the centre-left opposition.
SVT's projections, with more than half of election districts counted, showed the opposition, led by Magdalena Andersson's Social Democrats, with the slimmest possible majority of 175 seats in the Riksdag,
Sweden's parliament, while Kristersson's camp was seen at 174 seats. Ballot-counting continues.
The election, while unlikely to change the course of Sweden's pro-Western and pro-Ukraine stance, will decide whether the Nordic nation of 10.6 million halts its drift away from its liberal traditions and towards a hard-right clampdown on migration.
Early results from the Swedish Election Authority are expected late on Sunday or in the early hours on Monday, although given the closeness of the race the winner may not be known for several days, after all overseas ballots are counted.
In a pre-election pledge, Kristersson broke a long-standing taboo and said he would bring into government the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party with roots in the Nazi fringe, aiming to create a majority right-wing coalition.
Many voters on the right say a win would amount to an endorsement of policies that have helped to curb gang violence and cut immigration dramatically.
But some Swedes have expressed wariness, saying Kristersson's invitation to the far right was a step too far.
"I think it will be a long night," said Maria Malmer Stenergard, Minister for Foreign Affairs and a member of Kristersson's Moderate Party. "Maybe we won't even have the results until Wednesday when the votes that have been cast abroad arrive."
Kristersson, who has trailed in opinion polls throughout his four years in office, had been catching up in the final weeks of campaigning, with Andersson and her Social Democrats losing ground.
Critics say Kristersson's government is undermining civil liberties while forcing immigrants to conform more closely to Swedish cultural norms or leave the country, urged on by both inducements and penalties.
Electoral success for the Sweden Democrats would be welcomed by Europe's ascendant far-right parties, which were bolstered by the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany's win in a German state election last week.
The far right hopes for gains in upcoming elections across Europe, with the National Rally's bid for the French presidency next year potentially its biggest prize.
'DOESN'T LOOK LIKE SWEDEN'
While voting on Saturday in Rinkeby, near Stockholm, the Sweden Democrats' longstanding leader Jimmie Akesson said the suburb, home to one of the country's biggest Swedish-Somali populations, "doesn't look like Sweden".
Sweden was long one of Europe's most welcoming countries for immigrants until Kristersson came to power four years ago. His government abolished permanent residency for refugees , tightened welfare rules and stepped up expulsions of those without a right to stay.
The Sweden Democrats acknowledge that their party was founded in part by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the 1980s, but say they have eliminated such extremists from their ranks and have apologised for their past.
Cheers broke out at the Sweden Democrats' election party after an updated SVT projection showed a much narrower gap than an initial exit poll, which had indicated the centre-left opposition was leading with 51% of the vote.
"You cannot imagine how nervous I am right now. It feels like my life's work is hanging in the balance," said Ludvig Aspling, a member of parliament and immigration spokesperson for the Sweden Democrats. "It is going to be super tight. We still have a chance," he said.
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, Simon Johnson, Johan Ahlander and Tom Little; additional reporting by Ilze Filks, Ardee Napolitano, Janis Laizans for Reuters TV, Greta Rosen Fondahn, Marie Mannes, Terje Solsvik and Anna Ringstrom; Writing by Niklas Pollard and Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Peter Graff, Philippa Fletcher and Edmund Klamann)
