Key facts
- Parliament's speaker said Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson, prime minister since 2022, is next in line to try to form a cabinet.
- The September election gave the centre-left opposition 176 of 349 seats, but the four parties disagree on the government's composition.
- Thand Ringqvist, whose Centre Party is parliament's fifth-biggest, said she does not aspire to be prime minister in the next government.
- Lawmakers rejected a bid by Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson to form a minority cabinet on October 15.
Swedish lawmakers rejected Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist as prime minister on November 3, as widely expected, in a vote that Reuters reported from Stockholm. The ballot was the second of four before a new election must be called.
Parliament's speaker has already said Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson, prime minister of a right-wing government since 2022, will be next in line to try to form a cabinet. There is little indication so far that Kristersson, whose party is the second-biggest after the Social Democrats, would be able to secure a majority, and the task of government formation could thus revert to Magdalena Andersson at a later time.
The September election gave the centre-left opposition parties a majority of 176 of 349 seats in parliament. While all four parties favour Social Democrats leader Andersson as prime minister, they do not agree on who should be part of a new government.
Thand Ringqvist, whose party is parliament's fifth-biggest, abandoned an attempt to forge a centrist coalition and has said she does not aspire to be prime minister in the next government. Lawmakers on October 15 rejected a bid by Andersson to form a minority Social Democrat cabinet, as widely expected.
Recent opinion polls indicate that support for the Moderates has increased since the election.