(Adnkronos) – The leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, announced the failure of negotiations for the formation of a new government with centrist and radical left parties. Andersson, who had received the mandate to form an executive for the second time from the Speaker of Parliament, Andreas Norlen, explained at a press conference: “My overall assessment is that progress has been made, but at the same time there are currently no conditions to form a government capable of obtaining the support of Parliament.”
The Social Democratic leader nevertheless declared herself available to submit to a parliamentary vote for the position of prime minister, even though she is aware that she would hardly get the green light. In the September 13 elections, the center-left bloc led by Andersson won 176 seats, against the 173 obtained by the outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing coalition, which also includes the strongly anti-immigration Sweden Democrats. Despite the numerical majority, deep divergences between the parties prevent the formation of a government: the Centre Party opposes the inclusion of the radical left in the executive, while the Left Party insists on obtaining ministerial posts as a condition for supporting the new government.
Now the ball passes to Norlen, who will have to decide whether to submit Andersson’s candidacy to a vote anyway or entrust a new attempt to Kristersson, currently leading a caretaker government. The latter should convince at least one opposition party to support him or abstain. In Sweden, in fact, to become prime minister it is not necessary to obtain an absolute majority of favorable votes, but it is sufficient that the majority of parliamentarians do not vote against. The Speaker of Parliament has four attempts to propose a candidate to lead the government: if the fourth fails, early elections will have to be called.
