Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced his resignation on Thursday following the country’s general election held on Sunday. Preliminary vote counts indicated that the centre-left opposition bloc secured approximately 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag parliament, while Kristersson’s right-wing coalition appeared to have won around 173 seats. The narrow margin separating the two coalitions amounted to roughly 50,000 votes in a nation with approximately 10 million people. Official results are expected to be finalized this weekend pending formal certification.
Kristersson, a conservative, had led a coalition government that included support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party. Prior to the election, he had pledged cabinet positions to the Sweden Democrats if his bloc won. The Sweden Democrats, which were founded by Nazi sympathizers in the 1980s and long remained outside mainstream politics, experienced a rebranding effort beginning in the mid-2000s. The party achieved a major breakthrough in 2022 to become Sweden’s second-largest political force on a platform emphasizing immigration and crime issues. However, the party lost support in this election cycle, declining three percentage points from its 2022 performance.
Under Swedish parliamentary procedure, the Speaker of the Riksdag will now conduct talks with all parties to propose a candidate for the next prime minister, whose selection requires a vote by members of parliament. Magdalena Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, stated that voters had chosen a new direction for the country. She is expected to lead negotiations to form a new government with other opposition parties including the Left Party, the Centre Party, and the Green Party. However, coalition discussions may extend considerably given the significant policy differences among potential partners on taxation and other matters. Previous government formation processes in Sweden have taken varying amounts of time, with 37 days required following the 2022 election and 134 days following the 2018 election.
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