Sweden's parliament said no twice. Will it approve a prime minister by 30 November?
Sweden's parliament has rejected two candidates for prime minister since the September election. Ulf Kristersson is now looking for support.
What happened
The speaker of Sweden’s parliament gave Ulf Kristersson a few more days to look for support for a new government. He will set a new date later.
Sweden’s parliament, the Riksdag, has rejected two candidates for prime minister. The election was on . On members voted down Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats. On 324 of the 349 members voted against Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist of the Centre Party. The same day the speaker, Andreas Norlén, asked Ulf Kristersson to look for support. Mr Kristersson leads the Moderate Party and still leads the government until a new one is chosen.
On two parties changed their position. The Sweden Democrats, a far-right party with 62 seats, dropped their demand for places in the cabinet. Their leader, Jimmie Åkesson, said they would abstain in a vote on Mr Kristersson, which means not voting for or against him. The Centre Party gave Mr Kristersson and Ms Andersson until the next Friday, , to show their plans, and said it would then pick a side. The speaker gave Mr Kristersson a few more days and will name a new date later.
A candidate passes unless at least 175 members vote against. Members who abstain help the candidate. If the Sweden Democrats and the Centre Party both abstain, only the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens would vote against Mr Kristersson: 151 members. The speaker can make four proposals in all. Two have failed. If all four fail, Sweden must hold a new election within three months.
If more than half the members of the Riksdag vote against the proposal, it is rejected. In any other case, it is adopted.
Instrument of Government, Chapter 6, Article 4
Sources: Sveriges riksdag (2, 3, 4), SVT (2, 3), The Straits Times
The Pattern
We looked for cases where a candidate for prime minister in Sweden tried to win the Riksdag after it had already rejected another proposal of the speaker in the same round. We found five such attempts, four in 2018 and 2019 and one this autumn. In the speaker said the Riksdag had never rejected his candidate before 2018. (Sveriges riksdag; SVT)
Show the other 3 cases
The Read
The Centre Party now holds the deciding votes. If it and the Sweden Democrats abstain, Mr Kristersson passes with 151 votes against him. If the Centre Party backs Ms Andersson, only 173 members would vote against her, and she passes too. After a first rejection, approval came only once: in , when the Centre and Liberal parties agreed in advance to abstain for Stefan Löfven in return for policy. That took 30 days, which would mean this time. A vote must come within four days of a proposal.
There are reasons for doubt. All five attempts were run by the same speaker, Andreas Norlén, and four came in one winter, 2018 to 2019. Two of those ended with one decision of the speaker on . There has been only one approval, so the timing rests on that one time. This time the Sweden Democrats promised to abstain before any vote, which had not happened in the attempts that failed. But on Jimmie Åkesson said they could bring such a government down at any time, and on Ms Andersson promised full opposition to it.
Sources: Sveriges riksdag (2, 3), The Guardian, SVT (2)
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