STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept 18, SPA -- Prime Minister Goran Persson was handing in his resignation Monday following the defeat of his Social Democrats in weekend elections, ending a 12-year era that showed the world that Sweden's fabled social model could be an engine of dazzling economic growth, the Associated Press reported. The victorious center-right alliance is promising only totinker with the welfare state _ but some believe theirbaby-steps toward lower taxes and more flexible labor rulescould herald a deeper shift toward market liberalization. Swedes on Sunday dealt the Social Democratic Party itsworst election result since 1914 despite booming growth,opting for a four-party opposition bloc campaigning on acommon platform for the first time. The vote's big winner was prime minister-designate Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose Moderate Party rebounded strongly from a weak result in 2002 and scored its best parliamentaryelection since 1928 as Reinfeldt steered the party to thecenter. «This is a historic change for Sweden, it's a realbreakthrough,» said Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, a localModerate politician and wife of former conservative PrimeMinister Carl Bildt. «People were tired of the SocialDemocrats.»--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/390402