Sweden: after the failure of the left, the leader of the centrists responsible for forming a government

More than a month after the elections in Sweden narrowly won by the left, negotiations continue: the leader of the centrists was appointed Monday by the president of parliament to try to form a government at the center of the political spectrum.

A divided Parliament

Throughout the weekend, Andreas Norlén spoke with the heads of the country's eight political parties to break the deadlock. “This led me to ask Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist to assess the conditions necessary for the formation of a government capable of being accepted by Parliament,” he said at a press conference. “It is above all a matter of studying the conditions” to find a constellation capable of governing, at the center. She will have to return to him with her conclusions no later than October 26.

Since the legislative elections of September 13, Sweden has been immersed in a political soap opera with twists and turns. Ephemeral Prime Minister in 2021-2022, the leader of the Social Democrats Magdalena Andersson, charged twice with forming a government, suffered as many failures. Within its bloc, which has 176 seats in parliament compared to 173 for the right, two groups are very far from each other: the left party, which demands ministerial positions to support a possible government, and the centrists, who refuse to sit with this group.

Persistent political instability

“There is great impatience,” Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg, told AFP, assuring that voters now want “the process to move forward at a sustained pace.” To try to resolve the situation and increase pressure, the president of parliament can submit a candidate to a vote of deputies to determine whether he can become Prime Minister. He has four attempts to do this. If the last one fails, new elections must be called.

This possibility was used for the first time on Thursday with Ms. Andersson whose candidacy was largely rejected by the chamber, as expected. Interviewed by AFP on Thursday, centrist leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist said she was open to the idea of ​​a government including certain parties from the right-wing bloc. Sweden has already experienced this type of political blockage. After the 2022 legislative elections, it took 37 days to form a government. And 134 days in 2018.