On Monday, September 26th, the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, convened for the first time since the September 11th election. Its first order of business was to elect a new leadership consisting of a speaker and three deputy speakers. Samnytt.se reports that the incumbent speaker, Mr. Andreas Norlén, was unanimously re-elected. He has served as speaker of the Riksdag since 2018.
The three deputy speakerships were filled according to a plan negotiated between the winning center-right coalition and the opposition Left. The goal, according to several media reports, is to build consensus around the parliamentary leadership. Toward this goal, the deputy speakerships are being filled in accordance with the ranking of the parties in the parliament. Mr. Kenneth Forslund, the candidate from the biggest party, the social democrats, was elected as first deputy speaker. His election was also unanimous.
By ranking order, the second deputy speaker position was assigned to the Swedish Democrats, the largest party within the new center-right majority and the second-largest party in the Riksdag. Their candidate, Ms. Julia Kronlid, failed to clear the 175-vote majority threshold in the first vote. According to Samnytt.se, the green party put up their own candidate and thereby forced a second vote.
Aftonbladet, the largest daily newspaper in Sweden, reports that Kronlid was elected in the second round. Kronlid expressed her delight to Aftonbladet, adding that she is “deeply honored” by the trust that her fellow members of parliament have given her.
In another story, Aftonbladet reports that the appointments of the speaker and his deputies were part of the negotiations within the center-right coalition to form a new government. Mr. Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the moderate party and the presumed next prime minister, explains that the speakership votes, together with the distribution of chairmanships for parliamentary committees, were logical steps toward a final agreement.
A meeting is scheduled between Kristersson and Speaker Norlén for Wednesday, September 28th, at 11 a.m., where the leader of the center-right coalition will update the speaker on how soon he will be ready for a prime ministerial vote in the Riksdag.
