(Bloomberg) — Swedish opposition parties that won last month’s election secured two more days for talks to form a new government after failing to reach an agreement by a preliminary deadline.
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Parliament speaker, Andreas Norlen, gave Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson until Friday for negotiations between four parties that seek to take over from Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s Social Democrats. A vote on the cabinet is being planned for Monday, according to a website statement on Wednesday.
The announcement comes after weeks of negotiations between the parties that won a majority of seats in parliament in the Sept. 11 election. It indicates a tougher-than-expected process for the opposition that had sought to avoid a repeat of the prolonged uncertainty seen after the previous election, when it took more than four months to form the government.
Kristersson said earlier on Wednesday “a few details” remain in talks and that he’s “confident” parties are heading toward the finish line, declining to disclose which parties will be included in the cabinet.
“I want to be able to present everything in a comprehensive package, and I will be able to do that on Friday,” he said. “I think everyone feels that in the current situation there is reason to move with speed, and not replicate past, lengthy, processes.”
To assume power, Kristersson’s Moderates and other center-right parties will need an accord with the Sweden Democrats, the biggest winner in last month’s vote. The party, shunned by all mainstream political groups until their showing in the 2018 election, in September surpassed Kristersson’s Moderates to become the second-largest force in parliament, after Andersson’s Social Democrats.
Talks on the makeup and agenda of the new government have been complicated by tensions between the Sweden Democrats and the smaller Liberal Party, which has sought to limit their influence.
To formally assume the premiership, Kristersson needs to avoid having a majority in parliament vote against him.
(Updates with extension from lead)
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