Swedish prime minister resigns after narrow election defeat

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he will resign after his centre-right bloc narrowly lost Sweden’s general election, clearing the way for opposition leader Magdalena Andersson to try to form a new government.

The Swedish Election Authority’s count gave the four left-leaning opposition parties 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, while the parties that make up or support Kristersson’s outgoing conservative-led government won 173. About 50,000 votes separated the two sides in a country of about 10.6 million people.

“Now, it is the speaker who will lead the next stage of the way to a new government. I am henceforth requesting that I be relieved of the office of prime minister to allow that work to start immediately,” Kristersson said in a letter posted on X after the vote count ended Thursday.

The result is a narrow victory for Andersson’s centre-left Social Democrats, who finished as the largest single party despite losing some support. Andersson, Sweden’s first female prime minister in 2021-2022 and a former finance minister, is now expected to seek a return to power after four years in opposition.

“The Swedish people have voted for a new direction for our country,” Andersson said in a speech posted on Instagram.

Her path to government may be difficult. Sweden has two broad political blocs, with four parties on the right and four on the left, and coalition and minority governments are common. Andersson has initiated talks with the Left Party, the Centre Party and the Green Party, but the parties differ on major issues including taxes.

Al Jazeera reported that Andersson will need to bridge divisions between the socialist Left Party and the liberal Centre Party. The Centre Party has said it will oppose a government that gives cabinet posts to the Left Party, while the Left Party has insisted on having a minister. Andersson has ruled out a government that includes the Left Party but wants its support in parliament.

After a prime minister resigns, the speaker of the Riksdag holds talks with all parties and proposes a candidate for prime minister, who is then voted on by lawmakers. Al Jazeera reported that parliament can vote on a new prime minister on September 29 at the earliest. The BBC reported that the election results remain subject to formal certification and are expected to be finalized this weekend.

Kristersson, a conservative, led a right-wing bloc made up of his Moderates, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. His government had been supported by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, and he had promised the party cabinet jobs if he won the election.

The Sweden Democrats, founded by Nazi sympathisers in the 1980s and shunned for decades by the mainstream, later rebranded and became Sweden’s second-largest party in 2022 after campaigning on immigration and violent crime. The party supported the outgoing centre-right coalition from outside government as it oversaw a dramatic tightening of migration policy.

This election brought a setback for the Sweden Democrats. They lost support for the first time since entering parliament in 2010, receiving 17.5 percent of the vote, down three percentage points from 2022.

Kristersson said the opposition faced “complicated” conditions for forming the next government “because the parties’ various statements before election day could pose obstacles.” On election night, he said he would respect Andersson’s attempt to form a government, but wished her “good luck” given the divisions in her bloc, Al Jazeera reported.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who leads one of Europe’s few left-wing governments, welcomed the result. “Social democracy has won the elections in Sweden,” he wrote on X, according to Al Jazeera. “After four years of a right-wing government with the far right, the Swedes are once again backing the welfare state, social justice and the green agenda.”