There have been some informal attempts to form a government. And one official vote that failed to get Ulf Kristersson of the centre-right Alliance in as Prime Minister. There can only be four official votes before new elections must be held.
And just to list out the major players/facts:
Swedish parliament speaker: Andreas Norlén
Leader of the centre-right Alliance (Moderate party): Ulf Kristersson
Past prime minister though still caretaker of the government (centre-left bloc): Stefan Löfven
Sweden Democrats leader (far right political group): Jimmie Åkesson
Centre Party leader: Annie Lööf
Liberals leader: Jan Björklund
Centre-left bloc parties (144 total seats):
Social Democrats (100 seats)
Left Party (28)
Green Party (16)
Alliance parties (143 total seats):
Moderates (70)
Centre Party (31)
Christian Democrats (22)
Liberals (20)
Sweden Democrats (62)
Okay . . .
With Ulf Kristersson failing to get the needed votes to form an alliance, the job to form a government went to Stefan Löfven, the leader of the centre-left bloc; former Prime Minister, current caretaker Prime Minister.
He seems to be making some movement to potentially forming a minority government. Both the Centre Party and Liberals of the Alliance have indicated they were willing to provide passive support to Stefan Löfven. What this means is that they'd just abstain from voting.
One must remember that both parties voted against their own Alliance leader, Ulf Kristersson. They did so, because they felt that he was working too closely with the Sweden Democrats. So one has to wonder if they're just doing this to make their leader sweat.
The two parties are driving a hard bargain which might make one wonder about their willingness to abstain from voting.
Per Reuters (Nov 27), the Centre Party, led by Annie Lööf made the first overture to the centre-left bloc with these conditions:
Her demands include lower taxes and less restrictive labor laws and housing rental rules. She ruled out her party joining a Social Democrat-led government.
Then the Liberals also said they might abstain from voting. Sweden's The Local (28 Nov) stated that their demands were:
At the top of Björklund’s list of demands is an eventual scrapping of the highest marginal tax rate (värnskatt). Other items on his list include a liberalization of the rental market and lower salaries for entry-level nonskilled jobs.
Though perhaps there is some nuance, both the Centre Party and Liberals are focusing on the same things: taxes, rental market and labor laws.
Reuters, in the same above article link, states:
Lofven will face a parliamentary vote next week. If the Center Party abstains, he could pass by securing votes from long-time collaborators the Green Party and the Left Party.
I don't know how that math works honestly. I'm not even sure if the Centre Party and Liberals both abstained that a minority government could form. To me, the vote would look like this:
Votes for Löfven would be 144 (Social Democrats, Greens, Left).
Votes against would be 154 (Moderates, Christian Democrats, Sweden Democrats).
Votes to abstain: 51 (Centre Party and Liberals)
To me, you also need the Christian Democrats to abstain from voting. I could be wrong.
Here's a twist. By Löfven negotiating with the two Alliance Parties, his coalition is getting upset. Per Channel News Asia:
"The Left Party is totally uninterested in a government that causes massive rent hikes and forces people from their homes and, with government intervention, lower wages in the Swedish labour market," Left Party Leader Jonas Sjostedt told reporters.
The article doesn't mention what the Green Party would do.
The vote is set for December 5th.
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