Swedish PM Andersson says she cannot form a government
Parliament speaker Andreas Norlen gave Andersson until Monday to report back on coalition talks, and Ulf Kristersson is next in line to try
Published
Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told parliament that forming a government is not possible, ending the mandate speaker Andreas Norlen gave her on September 18 to explore a coalition after the September 13 election, according to France 24.
The vote left the Social Democrats, Left Party, Green Party and Centre Party with a preliminary 176 seats, against 173 for the parties that backed the outgoing government, according to NordiskPost. Talks stalled over disagreements between the Left Party and the Centre Party, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported, as cited by Daily Northern, and that split proved impossible to close.
With Andersson's attempt over, Ulf Kristersson, whose bloc holds 173 seats, is next in line to try to form a government, Al Jazeera reported. Under Sweden's system of negative parliamentarism, a prime minister does not need 175 votes in favour to take office, only fewer than 175 votes against, according to NordiskPost, which leaves Kristersson a narrower but real path. Sweden has faced this before: government formation took 37 days after the 2022 election and 134 days after the 2018 election, France 24 reported.
Andersson's setback is a blow to the center-left bloc, which led exit polls but appears to lack the seat count for a workable coalition. It prolongs political uncertainty at a time when Sweden faces inflation pressures and the Riksbank has signalled rate increases this year, though markets had already absorbed the election-night polling and the well-known difficulty of Swedish coalition math. Expectations for the eventual outcome remain largely where they stood before Andersson's statement.