On Wednesday, Swedish center-right coalition leader and prime-ministerial candidate Ulf Kristersson reported to the speaker of the parliament that only details remain to be sorted out before he can face a parliamentary vote. The office of the Speaker of the Riksdag explains in a press release:
During a meeting with Speaker Andreas Norlén on October 12th, Ulf Kristersson [chairman of the moderate party] reported on his assignment to negotiate a new government. The speaker extended the assignment to October 14th.
After the meeting, Kristersson held a press conference where, according to public broadcaster SVT, he explained:
There are some details that we need to straighten out in order to be able to present everything in one package, and I have asked for another couple of days in order to negotiate the foundation for a new government. I am preparing myself for a prime minister vote in the Riksdag on Monday.
Kristersson leads the center-right coalition that narrowly edged out incumbent socialist prime minister Magdalena Andersson and her leftist coalition in the September 11th election. According to several media sources, the main issue keeping Kristersson from asking for a prime minister vote before Monday is a lingering disagreement between the liberal party and the nationalist conservative Swedish democrats.
The substance of the disagreement is unclear, but Kristersson insists it is not a major problem. Over the weeks since the election, there have been reports about some members of the liberal parliamentary group balking at a coalition with the Swedish democrats. Since the center-right coalition only holds a three-vote margin, unanimity within each of the four parties in the coalition is essential to Kristersson’s chances of forming and sustaining a new government.
If Kristersson is elected prime minister on Monday, he will be formally appointed by the King of Sweden at a ceremony, most likely on Tuesday.
