Swedish parties begin talks on government formation

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Political parties in Sweden began talks to form a new government, as the country’s parliament speaker on Monday officially asked the leader of the center-right Moderate Party “to explore the possibilities of forming a government.”

"Today, I have given the task to Ulf Kristersson to explore the possibilities of forming a government that can be tolerated by the Riksdag. He will then report his task to the Speaker of the new Riksdag," Andreas Norlen said.

Norlen said that the decision was taken following talks with representatives of the parties in the Riksdag and deliberations with deputy speakers.

The speaker said that he does not want to speculate on how long the formation of government is likely to take.

However, he said that he expects the process to be shorter than after the 2018 elections when it took 134 days to get a new government in place.

Tough negotiations are ahead as parties in the right bloc said in a meeting with the speaker that they do not want to see the far-right Swedish Democrats in the government.

Liberal leader Johan Pehrson said that he intends to complete the election promise by trying to form a government with Ulf Kristersson as a prime minister.

"We have quite big social problems that need to be dealt with," he said.

He said that despite Liberals being happy to work to find solutions, "we have also been clear that we do not believe that the Sweden Democrats should be part of the government."

Sweden Democrats are the largest party in the right-wing bloc and are insisting on wanting to be sitting in the government.

"It is not always the one who runs the largest party who is best placed to be a part of the government-forming process," said Ebba Busch, the leader of Christian Democrats.

Per Bolund, a Green Party politician, said that he does not think that "the leader of the Sweden Democrats is particularly appropriate," to be part of the government.

Kristersson said that he cannot predict when the negotiations will be completed and whether he is aiming to form a government with Moderates, Christian Democrats, and Liberals or just with Moderates and Christian Democrats.

Last week, outgoing Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and the leader of Social Democrats offered cooperation to form a government with the Moderates.

"I hope that Ulf Kristersson will take Magdalena Andersson's extended hand," said Annie Loof, the leader of the Centre Party.

She stressed that Sweden is in a "serious security policy situation."

"There is a war just an hour from Sweden and we have a recession around the corner," she said.

Loof also mentioned that she hopes that Kristersson will consider extending cooperation with parties outside of his bloc to stabilize the situation in the country.