Swedish Government Crisis
Swedish center-left leader Magdalena Andersson abandons attempt to form new government.
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Swedish Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson has abandoned her attempt to form a government after her center-left bloc won 176 of Parliament’s 349 seats, against 173 for the outgoing right-wing bloc. Talks collapsed amid divisions among the bloc’s four parties, including tensions between the Center Party and Left Party; Andersson said the Left Party’s backing of a Moderate Party candidate for parliamentary speaker further undermined her effort. The speaker is expected to invite caretaker Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to try to form a government; his right-wing bloc, which includes the Sweden Democrats, also lacks a majority and faces obstacles in securing Center Party support. Sweden could hold a new election if Parliament rejects four proposed prime ministerial candidates.
Key Points
1
The Center Party’s leader, Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, ruled out supporting any government that gives influence to either the Sweden Democrats or the Left Party, complicating efforts by both blocs to assemble a majority.
2
The election’s popular-vote margin between the two blocs was about 50,000, despite the center-left winning the parliamentary seat count.
3
Sweden’s government-formation process can be prolonged: it took 37 days after the 2022 election and 134 days after the 2018 vote to establish a government.
4
Police had begun preliminary investigations into five complaints of election fraud around Stockholm, while prosecutors had opened a separate investigation.
5
The election was widely viewed as a referendum on Ulf Kristersson’s pledge to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into a governing coalition.
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