STOCKHOLM — Sweden's parliament will vote on Tuesday on Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist as prime minister, Speaker Andreas Norlén announced on Thursday, even though she said earlier this week that she had been unable to secure a majority to form a government.

Source: Reuters

Last month's election gave the centre-left bloc 176 of the 349 seats in parliament, against 173 for the right-wing bloc of caretaker Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of the Moderates. All four opposition parties favour Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson as prime minister, but they do not agree on who should be part of a new government — and 46 days after the election, Sweden still has no new cabinet.

Thand Ringqvist was tasked on 19 October with exploring a centrist coalition led by Andersson. On Monday she handed the task back, saying there was no majority for such a government. She accepted the speaker's nomination for a proposed coalition of her Centre Party with the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, Greens and Liberals, but made clear the premiership was never her goal: “My assignment was never about becoming prime minister myself, but about exploring the possibilities of a centrist government under Magdalena Andersson's leadership.”

A vote designed to raise the pressure

Norlén said the vote, set for Tuesday at 1 p.m. local time, is about “keeping up the pace and increasing pressure on the parties to move closer to a solution”. It will be the second prime-ministerial vote since the election: on 15 October, lawmakers rejected Andersson's bid to form a minority cabinet, as widely expected. The speaker may put forward up to four candidates; if all four votes fail, a fresh election must be called. Sweden last held an early election in 1958.

Thand Ringqvist is widely expected to lose on Tuesday. If she does, Norlén said he will ask Kristersson to attempt to form a government and give him a week to explore the possibilities. There is little indication so far that Kristersson — whose Moderates are the second-biggest party — could secure a majority either, although opinion polls in recent days suggest support for the Moderates has risen since the election. If he also fails, the task of government formation could revert to Andersson.