Sweden: Magdalena Andersson fails again to form a government

It is already the second unsuccessful attempt: after the election victory of her center-left bloc, the Swedish Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson has once again failed to form a government. Progress has been made in talks with the Greens, the Left and the Center Party, "but at the same time the necessary conditions for the formation of a government are not in place," said Andersson at a press conference on Tuesday.

The 59-year-old said that she had therefore informed the President of Parliament, Andreas Norlen, that although she was ready to be elected Prime Minister, such a vote in Parliament would probably fail.

Parliament President Norlen said he would still propose Andersson to parliament as a candidate and schedule a vote for Thursday. "From the beginning, Magdalena Andersson and I agreed that the task would be completed with a prime ministerial election, regardless of how the exploratory talks would have gone," he said.

Dispute over the allocation of offices

The opposition center-left bloc led by Andersson narrowly won the September 13 parliamentary election. However, in her first attempt, the social democrat failed to bring the four parties of the bloc – the Social Democrats, the Greens, the Left and the Center Party – together to form a government.

One point of contention is ministerial positions for the Left Party: While the party makes these a condition for its participation in government, this represents a “red line” for the Center Party.

Instead of instructing the incumbent conservative head of government Ulf Kristersson to form a government after the first failure, as expected, Parliament President Norlen entrusted the Social Democrat Andersson with resuming exploratory talks at the beginning of October.

The Social Democrats, Greens, Left Party and Center Party together have 176 seats in the new parliament. Kristersson's previous alliance, including the Sweden Democrats, has 173 seats.

The President of Parliament has four attempts to propose a candidate for the office of head of government for a vote in Parliament. If the fourth attempt fails, a new election must be called.