Sweden: Failed Second Vote for Prime Minister and What's Next?

The Swedes held a second vote for Prime Minister. Per Bloomberg, Social Democratic leader Stefan Löfven failed to win the vote. Prior to the vote, Löfven attempted to pull away two of the parties associated with the Alliance coalition, Centre Party and Liberals. He is associated with Centre-left bloc. That attempt failed. The Alliance stuck together and the far right wing Sweden Democrats also voted against him:

Coalition talks between Lofven and key opposition parties collapsed earlier this week after the Center Party rejected forming a government with the Social Democrats amid disagreements on labor regulations and taxes.

What Bloomberg doesn't state is that Löfven's own block of parties (Centre-left) would probably have splintered if he had been able to work with the two Alliance parties.

Bloomberg had this interesting final paragraph:

Lofven wasn’t even present at the vote since he’s attending a European Union summit. Nationalist leader Jimmie Akesson was also absent, having traveled to Thailand on holiday with his family.



I think that sort of sums up the differences between the US and Sweden. Admittedly, we form governments differently, but could you possibly see leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties taking off for vacation during a very crucial vote?

The Local in Sweden explains what is next:

There is currently no one in Sweden who can call a new election. The speaker does not have that authority and neither does Löfven's outgoing caretaker government, so the only way is to first have the remaining two votes in parliament. A new election would then have to be held within three months. This is organized just like an ordinary election, except that there will be no need for new regional or local elections, only national.

US New and World Report provides some additional details on what might happen if a new election is required:

The Sweden Democrats, who want to turn away asylum seekers and hold a vote on EU membership, won 17.5 percent of the vote in September and could increase that at a snap election, polls show. The Greens and Liberals could drop below the 4 percent threshold for seats in parliament.

This is an interesting situation as the Green Party is aligned with the Centre-left (Löfven) while the Liberals are aligned with the Alliance. The Green Party has 16 seats while the Liberals have 20 seats. One would think that the Green Party would be the first to fall under the 4 percent threshold; however, I'd think the Sweden Democrats are more likely to take votes away from the Liberals. So to me, it is a toss up regarding which coalition would end up with more seats in a new election (currently the Centre-left is one seat higher). Either way, a new election would appear to strengthen the Sweden Democrats. Since neither coalition wants to work with them, it puts more emphasis on finding a way to agree on a new Prime Minister in the next two votes. I'm betting the most likely scenario is for the Alliance to agree that they'll allow Löfven to remain in power as two of the parties in the Alliance have already held discussions.