Sweden facing third bid to form coalition government

The speaker of Sweden's parliament, Andreas Norlen, looked set on Monday to begin a third round of consultations to break the deadlock left by the Scandinavian nation's September 9 election.

It left the center-right alliance of four parties and the center-left bloc both short of majorities in Sweden's 349-seat parliament, with both groupings refusing to make any deals with the far-right Sweden Democrats, who took 62 seats.

"I have done what I can, for now," said Ulf Kristersson (pictured above), the leader of Sweden's conservative Moderate Party, on Sunday.

His proposal to recruit one or more members of the Alliance, a four-party center-right grouping, had been rejected on Saturday by the Alliance's Liberal and Center parties.

Another chance for Lofven?

Norlen's consultations Monday could result in the baton being passed back to Stefan Lofven, caretaker premier and leader of the Social Democrats, who have ruled out a coalition with the Alliance. On September 25 he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament.

Four attempts to form a coalition are allowed — otherwise Sweden heads to another election.

The leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, retorted Sunday: "Either a party is willing to talk to us or we will head for another election."

For decades the Social Democrats largely dominated Swedish elections and in 2014 formed a minority coalition government with the Greens.

Sweden's September 2018 election had focused on issues of housing, health care and welfare services, and Europe's 2015 migrant crisis.

ipj/aw (dpa, Reuters, AFP)