Sweden government talks have formally begun with Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson, after Speaker of the Riksdag (Riksdagens talman) Andreas Norlén gave her the first task of exploring whether a new government can be formed. The decision comes after the September 13 election left the Social Democrats, Left Party, Green Party and Centre Party with a preliminary total of 176 seats, against 173 for the parties that supported the outgoing government.
The exploratory mandate, known in Swedish as a sonderingsuppdrag, gives Andersson the responsibility of finding a government that can be tolerated by the Riksdag. It is not yet a formal nomination for prime minister.
Andersson gets the first chance to form a government
Speaker of the Riksdag (Riksdagens talman) Andreas Norlén announced the decision on Friday after holding individual meetings with all party leaders.
“Based on today’s talks, I have decided to give Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson the task of exploring the possibilities of forming a government that can be tolerated by the Riksdag,” Norlén said, according to SVT.
The move follows the resignation of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who asked to leave office on Thursday after the election deprived the parties supporting his government of their previous parliamentary advantage.
All votes have now been counted, but the election result remains formally preliminary. According to SVT, S, V, MP and C currently hold 176 of the Riksdag’s 349 seats, while M, SD, KD and L have 173. The final result is expected to be formally established during the weekend.
Sweden government talks face a dispute between C and V
The parliamentary numbers give Andersson the first opportunity to try to replace Kristersson, but they do not amount to an agreed governing majority.
The main obstacle is the relationship between the Centre Party (Centerpartiet) and the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet).
Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has maintained that her party could govern with the Social Democrats and the Green Party, but not with the Left Party. She has instead described a government built around the political centre as her party’s preferred option.
Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar has taken the opposite position. V says it will not vote for a government unless the party itself receives ministerial posts.
“We will vote for a government that we ourselves sit in,” Dadgostar said after meeting Norlén, according to Sweden Herald.
Dadgostar has called on C to enter government negotiations, while Thand Ringqvist has said there is little reason to attend talks whose purpose would be to create a coalition including V.
The disagreement means that the four parties holding the preliminary 176-seat majority cannot simply be treated as a ready-made governing coalition.
Andersson wants broader cooperation
Andersson has said she intends to seek cooperation beyond a fixed four-party arrangement.
“I want to lead Sweden in a new spirit of cooperation and seek broad collaborations,” she said in a statement reported by SVT.
She is expected to contact six other party leaders, excluding Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson.
Her immediate task will be to determine whether the conflicting positions of C and V can be reconciled, or whether another parliamentary arrangement can allow a Social Democratic-led government to take office.
The Green Party has encouraged the parties that want Andersson as prime minister to begin constructive negotiations. On the other side, the Christian Democrats and Liberals have said they will not support an Andersson-led government.
Sweden’s parliament does not require an absolute majority in favour
Swedish government formation is based on a system in which a proposed prime minister does not need 175 MPs to vote in favour. Instead, the candidate can take office provided that fewer than 175 members vote against.
This system makes abstentions particularly important and means that a party can tolerate a government without formally joining it or voting in favour of the prime minister.
For Andersson, the question is therefore not necessarily whether S, V, MP and C can all enter the same coalition. The decisive issue is whether she can find an arrangement that prevents a majority of the Riksdag from voting against her.
That could make the negotiations between the Social Democrats, Centre Party and Left Party as important as the election arithmetic itself.
The next stage begins on September 28
The new Riksdag will convene on September 28, when MPs will elect a new Speaker. That person will take over responsibility for the government formation process and agree with Andersson on when she must report the result of her exploratory talks.
A candidate for prime minister can be formally proposed from September 29 at the earliest.
If more than half of the Riksdag votes against the candidate, the proposal fails and the Speaker must continue the search for another possible prime minister.
Andersson therefore has the first opportunity to form Sweden’s next government, but no coalition has yet emerged from the election result. The 176-173 preliminary seat distribution has changed who gets the first chance to govern. The negotiations now have to determine whether those numbers can also produce a government.
