The Sweden election has entered another phase of government negotiations, with the Social Democrats reopening contacts with the Left Party and signs that the Centre Party may be more willing to discuss cooperation across the red-green majority. But the central disagreements remain unresolved, and Speaker Andreas Norlén has still not given anyone a new exploratory mandate.
After a second round of consultations with the parliamentary parties on Wednesday, Norlén said he needed more time to consider the next step. He has continued informal talks with party representatives and is expected to give an update at a press conference on Friday at 11:00. TV4 reported the planned press conference on Thursday.
The pause comes after Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna) leader Magdalena Andersson returned her exploratory mandate on Monday, saying that she could not currently see a path to forming a government.
The Social Democrats and Left Party are talking again
The clearest new development concerns relations between the Social Democrats and the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet).
According to SVT, senior representatives of the two parties are expected to meet to try to resolve some of the disagreements that have blocked the government negotiations.
The Social Democrats want the Left Party to consider negotiating a common policy programme without receiving an immediate guarantee of ministerial posts.
The Left Party’s position has not changed. It continues to insist that it must participate in any government that depends on its support.
That leaves the same fundamental problem that has complicated Andersson’s efforts since the election. The Social Democrats need the Left Party’s 30 MPs to build a parliamentary majority, but the Centre Party (Centerpartiet) has rejected the idea of Left Party ministers.
SVT politics reporter Tomas Nordenskiöld described the situation as extremely difficult, although the renewed contacts show that the parties have not stopped trying to find a way through it.
The Centre Party may be opening the door to negotiations with the Left
There are also signs of movement from the Centre Party.
Nordenskiöld said in SVT’s Aktuellt that senior Centre Party figures are now signalling a willingness to enter some form of cooperation or negotiations with the Left Party, something the party had previously been reluctant to discuss openly.
The Centre Party has not, however, abandoned its main red line. Its position remains that it does not want to enter a government together with the Left Party.
The distinction could become important. Cooperation over policies or parliamentary agreements would not necessarily require the two parties to sit in the same cabinet.
The Social Democrats have already started testing that possibility. Expressen reported that the party has invited the Left, Centre and Green parties to issue-based policy discussions this week.
One meeting concerned the controversial deportation of teenagers who have lived in Sweden for years. The Social Democrats, Centre Party and Green Party (Miljöpartiet) took part, while the Left Party did not attend because it currently lacks a migration policy spokesperson.
These talks are still far from a government agreement, but they provide one possible way for the four parties to begin working together on individual issues before resolving the much harder question of who would actually sit in government.
The Left Party says everyone will have to compromise
The tone between the parties has remained tense.
Left Party deputy leader Ida Gabrielsson has called on the Social Democrats to put more pressure on the Centre Party, arguing that Centre politicians also need to respect the voters represented by the Left.
At the same time, she acknowledged that compromises will be necessary.
“We have to be able to compromise, otherwise things could become very messy.”
Social Democrat Anders Ygeman responded that the same applies to all four parties. He said every party had received its own mandate from voters, but that all of them would eventually need to take a step back if they wanted to replace the previous government.
The exchanges mark a slight change from the confrontation that followed the election of Norlén as Speaker. Andersson had argued that the Left Party’s decision to support the Moderate politician had created a new parliamentary constellation between the two parties.
Social Democratic parliamentary group leader Lena Hallengren has since played down that claim, saying she does not believe the Left Party and Moderate Party (Moderaterna) are forming a new alliance.
One Social Democrat has suggested a compromise for 2028
A more unusual proposal has come from Annika Strandhäll, a former Social Democratic MP who remains a member of the party’s executive committee and chairs the Social Democratic women’s organisation.
Speaking to SVT’s Politikbyrån, Strandhäll said she does not believe the Social Democrats are currently prepared to form a government that includes the Left Party, particularly after the deterioration in trust between the parties.
She suggested that one possible compromise could be a common political agreement in which neither the Centre Party nor the Left Party enters government immediately, while the question of ministerial posts is reconsidered later in the parliamentary term.
“It would not mean that the Centre or the Left enter government from day one, but that there is an agreement on common policies and a willingness to reconsider this, perhaps halfway through the parliamentary term.”
That could mean revisiting the composition of the government around 2028.
The proposal is Strandhäll’s own suggestion, not an official Social Democratic position, but it illustrates the kinds of arrangements now being discussed as the parties look for ways around incompatible demands.
Norlén will announce his next move on Friday
For now, the formal government formation remains in the hands of Speaker Norlén.
Wednesday’s second round of consultations produced no new exploratory mandate. Norlén instead said he would consider the next step while holding informal conversations with the parties.
His press conference scheduled for Friday could clarify whether another party leader will now be asked to explore the possibility of forming a government, or whether the parties will be given more time to negotiate among themselves.
The parliamentary arithmetic has not changed. The Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party together hold 176 seats, while the four Tidö parties hold 173.
What is beginning to change is the conversation between those 176 MPs’ parties. The Left and Centre remain divided over participation in government, but both sides are now discussing forms of cooperation that were harder to imagine immediately after the election.
Whether that is enough to break the deadlock is the question Norlén will have to confront next.
