Reuters reported Monday that a narrow seat advantage has not delivered Sweden’s center-left an agreed cabinet, leaving parliament’s speaker to choose how talks proceed after Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist returned her assignment.
The September election left the center-left bloc with 176 seats in the Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, while Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing bloc held 173, Reuters reported. Each of the four opposition parties backs Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson for prime minister, but they remain divided over which parties should join a cabinet, the news agency reported.
Ringqvist said she had not found enough parliamentary support for a centrist administration. She described demand for solutions that could draw wider support, while saying the current parliamentary divisions made forming a government difficult, Reuters reported.
Speaker Andreas Norlen had given Ringqvist a week to explore government options, as EconoTimes reported earlier. Norlen can now put another prime ministerial choice to a parliamentary vote or invite a different party leader to try to form a government, Reuters reported.
