Swedish Social Democratic leader gives up on forming government, country faces political deadlock

Attempts to form a government in Sweden hit obstacles today when Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson stated she could not secure enough support, even though the center-left bloc won a narrow majority in this month’s elections.

“I can conclude that at the moment there is no possibility for me to form a government,” Andersson said at a press conference, adding that she had lost the support of Sweden’s Left Party, reports Reuters.

The president of the Swedish parliament will now likely turn to outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to see if he can form a government. Kristersson’s Moderates are the second largest party after the Social Democrats following the elections.

In the September 13 elections, the center-left opposition won a narrow majority with 176 seats in parliament out of a total of 349, compared to 173 seats for the center-right.

The result was a consequence of a decline in support for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, contrary to the European trend of rising far-right parties. The vote was seen as a referendum on Kristersson’s promise to bring the far-right Sweden Democrats into government if he won.

Despite the center-left victory, it remains difficult to form a stable government.

Andersson said she gave up attempts to form a government when the Left Party, one of the parties needed to form a majority, said it would not support the center-right candidate for speaker of parliament. The Left Party had previously said it would only support Andersson as prime minister.

The president of parliament can propose four candidates to parliament for approval, but if each is rejected, Sweden will hold new elections.

Adding to the difficulties in the process, police announced on Friday that they had begun a preliminary investigation into five complaints of electoral fraud around Stockholm.

The investigation followed just days after prosecutors opened a separate inquiry on suspicion of fraud in the central Swedish town of Borlange, in a case that could put 11 parliamentary seats in question if the Election Review Board orders a repeat election in that location.