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Swedish PM calls off snap vote

December 27, 2014

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has averted snap elections after reaching a deal with the main opposition alliance, according to Swedish media. The ruling coalition's first budget was voted down earlier this month.

https://p.dw.com/p/1EAZm
Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (S) and Gustav Fridolin (MP) from the green party - press conference announcing fresh elections in Sweden 22 March 2015, just three months after the election after the coalition government failed to get its budget through parliament amid a political crisis (Photo: Lotte Fernvall / Aftonbladet / IBL Bildbyrå AFTONBLADET / 3226 *** EXPRESSEN OUT ***)
Image: picture alliance/IBL Schweden

The agreement between the ruling coalition and the center-right opposition parties - the Moderates, the Liberals, the Christian Democrats, and the Center Party - would allow Lofven to continue as prime minister but makes it mandatory for the Social Democrats and Greens to pass the opposition-proposed budget in the parliament.

Earlier this month, Lofven had to call a snap vote for March 22 when the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats voted against his budget for 2015, backing an alternative financial bill tabled by the opposition.

"This agreement means that Sweden can be governed even in a difficult parliamentary situation," Lofven said during a press conference in Stockholm on Saturday, adding that a new election was "not topical" any more.

September's general election saw the Sweden Democrats emerge as the third-largest party, which gave the far-right group an upper hand in parliament. The party had intended to turn any snap election into a referendum on the Scandinavian country's flexible immigration policies.

Opinion polls showed the fledgling minority center-left coalition was unlikely to break the political deadlock through fresh elections in March, as neither the center-right parties nor the Social Democrats-Greens alliance was in a position to gain a majority.

shs/se (Reuters, AFP)