* Academic sees chance govt could still win majority
* Government, opposition quiet ahead of final tally
* Swedish crown remains strong
By Niklas Pollard and Johan Ahlander
STOCKHOLM, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Sweden's centre-right government stands a good chance of winning an outright majority after all when the final count including early ballots and postal votes is made this week, a senior academic said.
The preliminary result of Sunday's general election left Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right alliance just short with 172 seats in the 349-member parliament after the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats won their first seats.
Reinfeldt noted on Monday that he was beaten by just over 7,000 votes, when the tally of the centre-left opposition and the Sweden Democrats were combined, out of more than 5 million valid ballots cast on the day.
However Olle Folke, a Swedish political scientist at Columbia University, told public radio on Tuesday the counting of votes cast before election day and of postal ballots could change things back in favour of Reinfeldt's coalition.
"There is quite a big likelihood the Alliance will get a majority," he said, adding there was a 50 percent chance of this happening if the distribution of other votes was the same as at the 2006 election.
The Swedish currency, the crown, appreciated against the euro despite the inconclusive election result, with investors focussing on strong economic fundamentals. It remained at near three year highs at 9.13 to the euro on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman at the election authority said roughly 60,000 overseas votes remained to be counted. In addition, some of the ballots handed in at post offices rather than at polling stations had still not been counted.
FINAL COUNT DELAYED?
Political leaders stayed behind closed doors, making few comments before the final count, which is usually conducted on the Wednesday after the election, but could be delayed until Thursday, the election commission said.
Some of the uncertainty is due to the electoral system, which allocates seats according to a method combining both constituency and nationally allotted seats.
"If the outcome becomes more proportional than the election night result (which is probable), the Alliance will probably get more seats. The situation is tense since only three more seats are needed for a full majority," Gothenburg University Political Science Professor Henrik Oscarsson wrote on his blog.
Another academic was not so sure.
"One is nearing the point where one must start reasoning around the idea there may be a minority government," said Umea University political scientist Magnus Blomgren.
"But I don't think they (parties) will draw any hasty conclusions and begin talks between the parties yet, but rather wait until the definite election result is clear at the end of the week, because things could still change."
(editing by Paul Taylor)