Jonas Sjöstedt, chairman of the Left.

It’s not over yet. (Swedish politics 2018-19)

So, what happened to the deliberations about a new Swedish government? Before Xmas, the parliament voted “no” to both contenders, Stefan Löfven from the Social Democrats with 144 supporting votes, versus Ulf Kristersson from the right wing/Alliance/Moderates with 143 supporting votes. Nothing much happened, actually, until the last few days. The Speaker announced, before Xmas, … Read more

Mission Impossible (Swedish Politics 2018)

December 10, 2018:   The formation of a new government in Sweden takes longer this time than ever before. The Speaker of the parliament was expected to propose a vote lst week, to elect (or reject) Stefan Löfven, chairman of the Social Democrats, as prime minister, but the vote has been postponed. Löfven is currently … Read more

swedish politics cauldron

Stirring in the Cauldron (Swedish Politics 2018)

The formation of a new government in Sweden is becoming a confusing serial. Today is 77 days after the election, but the newly elected parliament hasn’t been able to agree on who should become Prime Minister and form a new government. Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far: When the new parliament was assembled … Read more

Speaker of Swedish Parliament tries again

Nay. Nej. Nope. No.

On Monday, November 12, after nine weeks of deliberations, the Speaker of the Swedish parliament proposed that Ulf Kristersson, chairman of the Moderate Party (conservative), and leader of the Alliance, should be elected to Prime Minister. As stipulated in the Constitution, the proposal was immediately tabled, i.e. postponed, and further postponed on the next day. … Read more

The Speaker of Swedish Parliament

Continuing Tensions in Swedish Parliament

In the wake of the exciting results of the US midterm election… here’s a report about the unclear situation in the Swedish parliament. The confused picture remains in the parliament, even more unclear and wooly than before. After the election the Speaker had one-on-one talks with all party leaders, trying to assess who would have … Read more

Swedish parliament, night view

Struggle for power in the Swedish Parliament

As I predicted before the Swedish election, the political situation in the Swedish parliament has come to a standstill, waiting for a solution. Honestly, it wasn’t a difficult prediction: it was clear for everyone with a slight knowledge of Swedish election rules. The combatants There are two candidates for the post of prime minister: on … Read more