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Swedish PM to stand down after losing confidence vote Swedish PM to stand down after losing confidence vote
(about 1 hour later)
The Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, will step down after losing a confidence vote in parliament, but with neither major political bloc holding a majority it remained unclear who will form the next government. Sweden’s centre-right parties and the far-right Sweden Democrats have combined to oust the country’s centre-left prime minister, Stefan Löfven, in a mandatory no-confidence vote following elections that left neither main political bloc with a majority.
Voters delivered a hung parliament in an election on 9 September. Löfven’s centre-left bloc won 144 seats, one more than the centre-right opposition Alliance. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, with 62 seats, also backed the vote to remove Löfven. The move means Löfven, whose centre-left bloc won 144 seats in parliament in the September 9 elections to the centre-right’s 143, will have to step down eventually but will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new administration can be formed, which could take weeks.
Analysts expect the speaker to pick Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the Moderate party – the biggest Alliance party – to try to form a new government. But with the Alliance in a minority, he needs support either from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, shunned by all sides since the party entered parliament in 2010, or the centre-left. The speaker of the parliament, Andreas Norlén, is now expected to meet the leaders of the eight parties represented in Sweden’s Riksdag over the next few days to determine who among them is best placed to try to piece together the country’s next government.
Löfven’s Social Democrats has ruled out backing an Alliance government. The Sweden Democrat leader, Jimmie Åkesson, repeated on Tuesday that his party would bring down any government that did not give it a say on immigration, healthcare, pensions and crime policy. Most analysts expect Norlén to first approach Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate party, the largest member of the four-party centre-right Alliance.
“If Ulf Kristersson wants to be prime minister it can only happen with my help,” Åkesson told Swedish television. The Alliance of the Moderates, Centre, Liberal and Christian Democrats has said it will not negotiate with the Sweden Democrats. “Sweden needs a new government that has broad political support to undertake reforms,” Kristersson said moments before Tuesday’s vote, which passed by a majority of 59 in the 349-seat house.
The speaker has four attempts at finding a new government. If the situation remains deadlocked, Sweden will hold another election within three months. With a new vote unlikely to change the situation, a compromise is likely. Quite where Kristersson might get that support from, however, is far from clear. With the centre-right grouping of the Moderate, Centre, Liberal and Christian Democrat parties in a minority, he will need the support of either the centre-left or of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, whose 62 MPs backed the no confidence motion.
Several party combinations have been suggested, but all would have a heavy political cost and a deal could take weeks. Löfven will lead a transition government until a new administration is installed. However, the Sweden Democrats have been consistently shunned by all other Swedish political parties since entering parliament in 2010 because of their roots in the neo-Nazi movement, a policy Kristersson has pledged to maintain, and Lofven’s Social Democrats have ruled out backing an Alliance government.
The Sweden Democrat leader, Jimmie Åkesson, repeated on Tuesday that his party would not hesitate bring down any government that does not give it a say on policies touching on its core concerns of immigration, healthcare, pensions and crime. “If Ulf Kristersson wants to be prime minister, it can only happen with my help,” he said.
The speaker has four attempts at finding a new government to replace Löfven’s centre-left coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, who have ruled together, with the informal parliamentary support of the ex-communist Left party, since 2014.
If deadlock persists new elections must be held within three months, an eventuality most analysts think unlikely because the parties’ vote shares would probably not change by much.
With all potential cross-bloc coalitions or support deals coming at a heavy political cost for those involved, however, thrashing out an agreement is widely expected take weeks or even months.
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