Magdalena Andersson announced that she is giving up on forming the Government of Sweden / The Left Party supports a right-wing candidate for Speaker of Parliament

Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson announced that she was, for the time being, abandoning her attempt to form a government in Sweden after the Left Party said it would support a Moderate Party candidate for the position of speaker of Parliament. The decision was announced following Sunday’s parliamentary elections, held on September 13.

“At present, there is no possibility for me to form a government,” Andersson said at a news conference, as cited by Reuters. She explained that the Left Party’s support for Andreas Norlén, the current speaker of Parliament, complicates negotiations to form a majority.

Following the election for the Riksdag’s 349 seats, the center-left bloc won 176 seats, while the center-right bloc won 173. After Andersson’s withdrawal, the speaker of Parliament will task another political leader with forming the government. Possible candidates include the incumbent prime minister and conservative leader Ulf Kristersson.

Sweden has a recent history of lengthy negotiations: forming a government took 37 days after the 2022 elections and 134 days after the 2018 election.