Sweden's centre-right opposition and the
far right ousted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a vote of
no-confidence on Tuesday, as the left and right blocs wrangle over who
can form a new government after neither won a majority in September 9
elections.
Lofven's
departure was widely anticipated. The head of the opposition four-party
Alliance, Ulf Kristersson, has since election night insisted that he
intends to try to form a government.
With
neither bloc able to build a majority, the far-right, anti-immigration
Sweden Democrats, who won almost 18 percent of votes in the election and
is the country's third-biggest party, has demanded it be given
influence over Swedishpolitics in exchange for its support in
parliament. But neither the left nor right has been willing to negotiate
with the Sweden Democrats. "Sweden needs a new government that has
broad political support to undertake reforms," Kristersson told
parliament moments before the confidence vote on Tuesday.
A
total of 204 of 349 members of parliament voted against Lofven, while
142 voted in favour. The speaker of parliament, Andreas Norlen, will
begin talks on Thursday with the leaders of the eight parties
represented in parliament to determine who is best placed to form the
next government.
Norlen, a member of
Kristersson's conservative Moderate Party, is widely expected to task
Kristersson with the job. But the road ahead is tricky.
A
collaboration with the Sweden Democrats would give the Alliance the
majority it needs, but since that option is unthinkable for two Alliance
parties - the Liberals and the Centre - Kristersson has so far refused
to go down that route.
Lofven's
leftwing bloc holds 144 seats in the new parliament, just one more than
the four-party centre-right Alliance. The Sweden Democrats hold 62
seats.
The leftwing bloc is made up
of the Social Democrats and the Greens, who have ruled together with the
informal support of the ex-communist Left Party since 2014.
The
Social Democrats posted their worst election score in more than a
century, but they remain Sweden's biggest party, far ahead of
Kristersson's Moderates and the Sweden Democrats.
Lofven
will stay on as prime minister in a caretaker role until a new
government is in place, which could take weeks. After his ouster, Lofven
issued a stark warning to the Alliance about cooperating with the
Sweden Democrats.
"If the Alliance chooses to govern as the smaller bloc they will be totally dependent on the Sweden Democrats," he said.
"The
Sweden Democrats were founded by neo-Nazi members of the Swedish white
supremacy movement. They have repeatedly been found to have ties to
racist and neo-Nazi organisations," Lofven added.
"All
eyes are now on the Alliance's big election promise to theSwedish
people that it would never govern with the support of the Sweden
Democrats." The Sweden Democrats said Tuesday that it was ready "to
negotiate, cooperate, and talk with all parties".
"But
we will bring down any attempt to form a government that does not give
us any influence," the party's leader Jimmie Akesson warned. Since it
has ruled out the far right, the Alliance has instead invited the Social
Democrats to a cross-bloc cooperation.
While
Lofven himself has been a fervent champion of cross-bloc politics, he
has rejected any Social Democratic support for an Alliance minority
government.
The Social Democrats are the country's biggest party and will "never be a support party," Lofven reiterated Tuesday.
"The
Social Democrats won the most mandates" in parliament, he said.
"Today's vote doesn't change anything in terms of the mandates decided
by voters."
Lofven
has meanwhile courted the Centre and Liberal parties. If the Alliance
were to fail to form a government, they could possibly switch to
Lofven's side, observers say.
The
speaker of parliament has four attempts to designate a party leader to
build a government. After that, new elections have to be called.