The Swedish Prime Minister has rejected calls to resign, following an election that left the main parties deadlocked.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's Social Democrats won 28.4% of the vote, emerging as the largest party.

However, the party lost around a dozen seats in parliament.

With almost all votes counted, results showed a centre-left bloc of parties - led by the Social Democrats - on around 40.6% of the vote, only 0.3% ahead of the centre-right bloc.

Sweden, election results (5826/6004 election districts counted):

S-S&D: 28.3%
M-EPP: 19.8%
SD-ECR: 17.6%
C-ALDE: 8.6%
V-LEFT: 7.9%
KD-EPP: 6.4%
L-ALDE: 5.5%
MP-G/EFA: 4.4%#valet2018 #val2018 #SwedenElection

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 9, 2018

Ulf Kristersson, leader of the center-right bloc, called on the incumbent prime minister to resign following the results.

Mr Löfven stressed that his party was still the largest in the country, but acknowledged that the political landscape had changed.

He observed: "It is clear that a cross-bloc coalition is needed to govern."

He pledged to remain in his role, and to take part in negotiations in a bid to form a government.

Around 300,000 votes from Swedish people living abroad will not be counted until later this week.

Meanwhile, the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party claimed to be the 'real winner' after increasing its vote share to just under 18%.

Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Åkesson. Picture by: Anders Wiklund/AP/Press A

The nationalist party is anti-immigration and Eurosceptic, and several of the parties across both main political blocs have ruled out working with the party.

Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Akesson said: "We're strengthening our pivotal position... we increase our seats in parliament.

"We see we're going to get incredible influence over what'll happen in Sweden over the coming weeks, months and years - and that nobody can take away from us."

Mr Löfven has claimed the Sweden Democrats have "roots in Nazism", and expressed disappointment with the party's gains.

The Sweden Democrats worked to make immigration one of the main talking points ahead of yesterday's vote.

Since 2015, when Sweden had a population of 10 million, the government has allowed more than 150,000 migrants and asylum seekers into the country - representing the highest intake per capita of any European nation.