Sweden’s centre-left leader fails in second bid to form government

Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson says ‘conditions not in place’ to form government, prolonging deadlock.

Sweden's Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson [File: Michael Campanella/Getty Images]

The leader of Sweden’s left-wing Social Democratic Party, Magdalena Andersson, has said her efforts to form a government have failed, prolonging a political deadlock a month after parliamentary elections.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Andersson said talks with the three other parties in the country’s left-wing bloc had hit an impasse.

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Despite progress, she said she did not believe conditions were in place to “form a government that can be tolerated by parliament”.

It is her second time failing to form a government after Sweden’s parliamentary vote on September 13.

Shortly after the announcement, the country’s parliament speaker, Andreas Norlen, who had tasked Andersson with gauging conditions to form a government, said a vote on whether to make Andersson prime minister would proceed in parliament on Thursday. He conceded that Andersson would likely fail to pass the vote.

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

Sweden’s centre-left opposition bloc narrowly defeated outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing bloc in last month’s election, winning 176 seats to the right-wing bloc’s 173. However, Andersson’s bloc has struggled to form a government due to competing terms from several of its members. 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.

Parliament speaker Andreas Norlen (R) meets Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson for talks in Stockholm, Sweden, September 18 [Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via Reuters]

If Andersson fails in Thursday’s vote, Norlen is expected to ask Kristersson, who currently leads a caretaker government, to hold negotiations with other parties.

Speaking to reporters, Norlen said he considered Kristersson a potential next candidate, but the speaker did not wish to commit to that too soon and would “respect the process”.

To succeed, Kristersson would need to convince an opposition party to support him or at least not vote against him.

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.

After Sweden’s 2022 election , negotiations to form a government took more than a month, and those following the 2018 election lasted more than four months.

社会民主党领袖玛格达莱娜·安德森表示，组建政府的“条件尚未具备”，僵局持续。

瑞典社会民主党领袖玛格达莱娜·安德森 [图片：Michael Campanella/Getty Images]

瑞典左翼社会民主党领导人玛格达莱娜·安德森表示，她组建政府的努力已经失败，这使得议会选举一个月后的政治僵局持续下去。

安德森周二在新闻发布会上表示，与该国左翼联盟其他三个政党的谈判陷入僵局。

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尽管取得了一些进展，但她表示，她不认为目前具备“组建一个能够被议会容忍的政府”的条件。

这是她在9月13日瑞典议会投票后第二次组阁失败。

消息公布后不久，负责评估安德森组建政府条件的议长安德烈亚斯·诺伦表示，议会将于周四就安德森是否担任总理进行投票。他承认，安德森很可能无法获得通过。

在瑞典的政治体制下，只要议会多数派不投票反对，首相就可以继续执政。

瑞典中左翼反对派联盟在上个月的选举中以微弱优势击败了即将卸任的首相乌尔夫·克里斯特松领导的右翼联盟，赢得了176个席位，而右翼联盟则获得了173个席位。然而，由于联盟内几位成员的诉求存在分歧，安德松领导的联盟组建政府一直举步维艰。中间党表示，如果政府中包含左翼党的内阁职位，它将予以反对；而左翼党则坚持，它只会支持由其成员组成的左翼政府。

9月18日，瑞典议会议长安德烈亚斯·诺伦（右）在斯德哥尔摩与社会民主党领袖玛格达莱娜·安德森举行会谈。[克里斯汀·奥尔森/TT新闻社，路透社供图]

如果安德森在周四的投票中失败，预计诺伦将要求目前领导看守政府的克里斯特森与其他政党进行谈判。

诺伦在接受记者采访时表示，他认为克里斯特森是下一任候选人的潜在人选，但议长不想过早做出承诺，并将“尊重程序”。

要想成功，克里斯特森需要说服反对党支持他，或者至少不要投票反对他。

议长有四次机会提名总理人选供议会投票表决。如果第四次提名失败，则必须提前举行大选。

瑞典 2022 年大选后，组建政府的谈判持续了一个多月；而 2018 年大选后的谈判则持续了四个多月。