Swedish political deadlock extends as parliament rejects minority govt bid

Sweden's parliament on Thursday rejected Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson's bid to form a minority government, as widely expected, extending a period of uncertainty over who will become prime minister after last month's general election.

Four center-left opposition parties, which have all said they favor Andersson as prime minister, on September 13 won a majority of seats in Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, but do not agree on who should be part of a new government.

Andersson had announced on Tuesday that she had failed to form a government with the three other parties in the left-wing bloc following last month's election.

Shortly afterwards parliament speaker Andreas Norlen said he would speak to the party leader once again to reassess who the next candidate should be.

Sweden's centre-left opposition bloc won 176 seats in parliament, versus 173 for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing bloc, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) in the September 13 election.

In Andersson's bloc, the Centre Party has said it will oppose a government that includes cabinet posts for the Left Party, which has in turn insisted it will only support a left-wing government of which it is a member.

Under the Swedish system, a prime minister can secure office so long as a majority in parliament does not vote against them.

Norlen first tasked Andersson with starting government talks on September 18, but she gave up on September 28, after failing to unite the three other parties in her group due to deep ideological differences.

High stakes

The stakes are high, with right-wing bloc leader Kristersson coming under fire for promising to include the far-right Sweden Democrats ​in any new government of his, which would be the first time it would join a cabinet.

When Kristersson promised Holocaust survivor ​Hedi Fried his Moderates would never cooperate with the far-right Sweden Democrats back in 2018, the party ‌was still treated as a political outcast by much of Sweden's right wing.

Four years later, the party's support helped carry Kristersson into office, lending its votes to the three-party right-wing minority government he leads and propelling his journey of shifting Sweden's politics to focus on tougher policies ​on immigration and crime.

Cementing far-right influence

Critics say that inviting the SD into a coalition risks cementing the far right's anti-immigration agenda at the heart of Swedish politics and a further ​move to the right.

Kristersson's caretaker government has ⁠already abolished permanent residency for asylum seekers and ramped up expulsions. It had to drop a bill to lock up ​the most violent 13-year-old criminals, settling for offenders one year older, but has imposed stiffer sentencing and expanded police powers.

Sweden has become accustomed to lengthy negotiations to form a government. After the 2022 election it took 37 days, and 134 days in 2018.

After Andersson's attempt, Norlen is now expected to assign the task to Kristersson.

Kristersson's Moderates party, increased its support in September's election and overtook the SD to become the second-largest force in the parliament.

The speaker of parliament has four attempts at proposing a prime minister for parliament to vote on. If the fourth attempt fails, a snap election must be called.